If anyone knows what is happening with Mitch Trubisky, it’s Chase Daniel.
Daniel has been by Trubisky’s side since signing a two-year deal worth $10 million as a free agent in 2018. It was a signing so important, former NFL player and scout Bucky Brooks called it the most underrated acquisition of a busy Bears offseason. The way Brooks saw it, Daniel’s deal would be worthwhile if QB2 could “teach Trubisky how to drive the Bears’ new Ferrari.” And by the sound of it, that is what has happened in the last year.
Bears QB Chase Daniel on difference in Mitch Trubisky this year: “Night and day. … He’s not learning the offense, he’s running the offense.”
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) July 29, 2019
At first blush, the tweet comes off as a backup quarterback using a national voice to share some words of encouragement for the guy ahead of him on the depth chart. Nothing special there, right? But then there is this (via the Bears’ official website) from Trubisky about having familiarity in Head Coach Matt Nagy’s system: “Just being in the offense for a whole year already I know what he expects out of each play and what we’re kind of thinking mindset-wise. So it’s just going through that, continuing to work on the details, going through all the adjustments of each play and kind of just being an extension of him and doing exactly what he wants within each play.”
Also … think back and recall that last summer wasn’t just about Trubisky learning the offense. There was so much ore Like when Daniel offered up that Trubisiy had to “flush out the old offense” in addition to pick up on what his new coach was putting down. That process wasn’t easy either, because it was Nagy who admitted last November that Trubisky essentially needed to be re-programmed and unlearn what he had learned from the previous regime. And it wasn’t just the old playbook, but also learned habits, decision-making, and building a risk calculus. You know, things that normally functioning coaching staffs with progressive, offensive-thinking minds do early in a young quarterback’s time with the team.
Take a moment to think about how Daniel’s job last season was to guide Trubisky through Nagy’s playbook and get him up to speed with the operating manual. That Daniel isn’t doing that this year because he is running the show instead of learning how it works is an important step in the right direction. Now, let’s see that knowledge and mastery of the system applied in practice!