NEWSLETTER
Accuracy continues to be an area ripe for improvement for Mitch Trubisky, as he enters his third year as the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback. Because while he improved his completion percentage last season, the missed opportunities down the field and decisions that led to near picks still stick in the craw of his biggest critics (and even some of his biggest fans).
And when Head Coach Matt Nagy said Trubisky’s accuracy during OTAs was “more than fine,” it probably set off some alarms. But don’t go running for cover just yet, because context is king.
Adam Jahns (The Athletic) shares the full quote in context as part of his summertime notebook. Let’s check it out:
“He’s been, from what I’ve seen, numbers-wise, with (Brad) Goldsberry who keeps our stats that he has, accuracy-wise he’s been more than fine. What I’ve taken away from OTAs just from all of us talking is some of the things that we’re seeing from Chuck and that defense, and where Mitch was at last year at this time fixing protections and seeing what the defense is doing, not even — I’ve been talking about coverages, well now talking about fronts and stunts and how they disguise different looks, and he’s seeing that.”
Well, then. Nagy’s full quote made me go from “What’s up with that?” to “That’s what’s up.”
Obviously, throwing the ball with accuracy is a main component of a quarterback’s job. HOWEVER, it’s notable that Trubisky has made significant strides in getting the little things right. This is important because little things tend to add up over time. And if little things don’t get taken care of, big problems can arise. If Trubisky can successfully fix protections at the line of scrimmage and see what coverages are going to throw at him, it should go a long way toward him making better decisions — and ultimately — better throws.
Thinking about Trubisky doing this and excelling in it got me to thinking about this quote from Nagy earlier in the offseason:
Bears HC Matt Nagy admits that they have to urge Mitchell Trubisky to take a step back from football sometimes: “He’s kind of got that craziness in him. He’s truly obsessed.”
— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) June 13, 2019
Since I first laid eyes on Trubisky during his first training camp, one thing I couldn’t shake was how impressive the work ethic looked. As many of his teammates walked toward the locker room, Trubisky would often hang around to get some extra reps working with backup centers and receivers on the bottom end of the depth chart. It was one way for Trubisky to get additional work in that would otherwise be difficult to come by — remember, he was QB3 at the time, so Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez were receiving more practice reps because they were ahead of him on the depth chart. But it also showed that Trubisky was willing to do a little extra in order to make his eventual push into the starting role.
The concept of obsession isn’t foreign to Trubisky. In March 2018, Trubisky was “obsessed with being great” as he entered his new partnership with Nagy. And back in January, Trubisky showed how he was taking it to a whole other level. This all comes back to Nagy’s ridiculous attention to detail, which borders on obsessive. It has been his calling card since his arrival and something he clearly hoped that would permeate through to his team. Obsession isn’t going to strike a chord with everyone. But if it does with the quarterback, and he can apply it to make him better, everyone wearing navy blue and orange will benefit.
