Mitch Trubisky improved his completion percentage, touchdown percentage, yards per attempt, and quarterback rating from Year 1 to Year 2, which helped pave his way to a Pro Bowl appearance last season. And even after making tangible, under-the-hood improvements while also getting better results than he did as a rookie, Trubisky still finds himself trying to round out his game. The most noticeable issue nagging the Bears’ starting quarterback is a lack of consistency in the accuracy of his deep throws.
Just don’t tell that to his position coach.
“It’s a constantly evolving thing for us,” Quarterbacks Coach Dave Ragone said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “In my opinion, there’s no worry of deep-ball accuracy.”
Trubisky’s deep-ball issues have been at the center of Bears-related chatter all summer. But perhaps they shouldn’t be. Trubisky’s six 50+ yard air completions were the most in football last season. Further, the Bears ranked in the top-10 in attempts of 20+ yards down field and completion percentage. Chase Daniel helped a bit in his two starts, but it was Trubisky doing most of the heavy lifting. And yet, the talk about Trubisky’s deep-ball accuracy remains. What gives?
Ragone offered up an interesting analogy that golfers can relate to when they hit the lies.
“Does he pick the right club? Does he put enough air under it, or is it too flat? That’s innate things,” Ragone explained. “You have to be able to process that within three seconds to know which type of ball to put out there. … That’s constantly the conversation: ‘Hey, what do you think about that club selection? Is it too much air? Too flat?'”
I’m not a golfer. Nor am I a golf expert. But I can wrap my arms around what Ragone is putting down with the golf comparison.
Trubisky has the short-game down, but to get the whole package working, he needs to figure out his approach in the long game. To that end, Ragone told the Sun-Times Trubisky is working on fundamentals in practice reps in order to get a better feel for his eep ball. With that in mind, we should pump the brakes whenever concern begins to grow when talking about Trubisky’s deep ball inconsistencies and the defense seemingly always having the upper hand in training camp. The whole point of camp is to get guys into playing shape by sharpening their tools. The defense is already at that point, but Trubisky is still working his way toward that level.