Mitch Trubisky’s rough ride isn’t coming to an end yet – not with the trade deadline behind us and an unforgiving second-half schedule featuring five games against teams in the thick of the playoff hunt, plus three division leaders (Packers, Cowboys, Chiefs), a team with a grip on a wild-card spot (Vikings), and a squad just months removed from playing in the Super Bowl (Rams).
Trubisky needs to be prepared to take on all that’s thrown at him over the next eight game … And that’s not great, given that he wasn’t ready/able to counter a simple defensive front over the weekend.
What am I talking about? Here’s a clip from Sunday laying out the overload defense thrown at Trubisky by the Eagles in a 3rd-and-10 situation:
Genard Avery recorded his first sack (split w/Jenkins) in an Eagles' uniform Sunday, but this is mostly due to scheme.
3rd & 10, Eagles overload the side opposite of Cox, who predictably gets the center slide. Just a numbers game at that point (graphics via @KlipDraw) pic.twitter.com/SwyyNthjDw
— Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) November 5, 2019
So what did Trubisky do when facing that front? Come up with an audible? Change the line protections? Flip the play direction? Nah. Nope. Nuh uh.
Unfortunately, the answer was nothing. Trubisky saw an overloaded front and did nothing. The result of the play was Trubisky being pummeled by a relentless group of pass-rushers. It was painful to watch Trubisky get piled on by a glob of humans whose soul purpose is to wreck the quarterback. And worse is his reason for not making an adjustment at the line:
Check it out:
Mitch Trubisky said he thought that when the #Eagles overloaded the left side of the line Sunday that they were gonna bluff. Because of that, team didn't change blocking scheme left the way they should have.
— Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) November 6, 2019
This is pure madness. Because even if Trubisky guessed right and the overloaded front was nothing more than a bluff, there is still no one for center James Daniels to be accountable for at the line of scrimmage. There is no one for Daniels to block, so he sticks with his assignment to double the ever-dangerous Fletcher Cox, leaving a mismatch of four defenders against three blockers on the side of the ball where Trubisky didn’t think pressure was coming from.
I guess credit goes to Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz for designing a defensive front that further fractured what was already a broken offense.
In more stunning confession news, here’s this:
Mitch Trubisky said he’s trying to get some of the TVs turned off at Halas to eliminate some of the negativity. Says people on the outside don’t know what this is capable of or what they are about. #Bears
— Shae Peppler Cornette (@shaepeppler) November 6, 2019
It is unsettling that the noise is getting to the Bears’ quarterback. And while I understand Trubisky’s insistence on shutting off voices outside the walls of Halas Hall, the criticism is coming because his play has been so poor that it warrants it. If you don’t want to hear the things being said, I get it. No one wants to dwell on the times they’re struggling on the job. But the reaction should be to work harder to play better, not to turn off televisions.
A year of regression for QB1 continues to get worse.