NEWSLETTER
Look, I know the last thing Bears fans probably want to read right now is something about Patrick Mahomes. But I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the future of the Chicago Bears’ quarterback position.
Yes, I can hear your groans from my computer desk. Just hang with me for a minute:
Bad news for the rest of the NFL: Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes said he didn’t learn how to read defenses until halfway through last season. More on Saturday’s The Shop: Uninterrupted on HBO. https://t.co/h3kL9ocpLC
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 6, 2020
Mahomes’ words struck a chord with me.
I didn’t understand how to read defenses until halfway through last year. I understood coverages, but how to be able to pick up little tendencies defenses do. Stuff that Brady and them have done that they know and just do it, I was just playing ….
The more experience and the more I learn, then I’ll be able to go out there and call plays and do that different stuff because I’ve seen it ….
I still think there’s a long way for me to go there. And that’s where mentally, I think I can get better. Physically, I feel like I’ve done a lot of stuff. But I think mentally, I think I can take my game to a whole other level.
When the best in the game says he can get better, then everyone (and I mean *EVERYONE*) who plays the position can get better. Full stop.
Mahomes talking about his learning curve got me thinking about Mitch Trubisky. But not in the way I usually think when these two come to mind. Because Mahomes’ discussion regarding his growth as a quarterback is coming from a real, tangible place. Reading defenses isn’t easy. There is a lot that goes into it. Pre-snap. Post-snap. Before and after motion. Defensive alignments, shifts, and responsibilities can change in a blink. I would argue that defensive coordinators are better now at disguising what they’re doing than they are at any time previously in the league, especially since there are so many versatile defenders who can do any number of things in a given scheme. So, yeah, I believe it when Mahomes says he didn’t have a full grasp on reading defenses until his third year as a pro (second as a full-time starter).
We know that Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy laid out a game plan for Trubisky to get better this offseason. And at the top of the list is mastering the reading of defensive coverages. Trubisky is so clearly behind in that aspect of the game, that Nagy has mentioned twice this offseason about it being a priority for his quarterback to learn as he enters the fourth year as a pro. That’s not a coincidence. That’s very much a coach wanting to drive home the importance of a key part of the most important position in the game.
I refuse to offer up age or inexperience as a crutch for Trubisky’s struggles and inconsistencies. Trubisky has 41 games (plus one playoff start) under his belt as a professional. The days of inexperience as an excuse are over. But maybe there is something to the learning curve he has taken on that hasn’t been given full or fair consideration to when talking about his development. Because even as Trubisky enters Year 4, we are still talking about how he is currently fighting said learning curve — which is probably why Kurt Warner urged patience when it came to quarterback development. Warner cited how he needed to play a ton of football before becoming the quarterback he ultimately became … and that didn’t start until his age 28 season. Mahomes, himself, notes that it took playing a bunch to get to the good place he is at now.
To be clear, I did not write this to suggest something such as radical as Trubisky following in Mahomes’ footsteps. But Mahomes’ words provide a sliver of hope and some much-needed perspective. And there is nothing wrong with a little perspective.
