Mitchell Trubisky Leaves Plenty for Coaches to Pick At
Inconsistency thy name is Mitchell Trubisky.
Trubisky's first-half struggles with passing accuracy and his ultimate ability to rally the Bears in the fourth quarter to a 27-23 win over the Detroit Lions merely repeated trends apparent last year, with a few exceptions. It was within these exceptions where coaches see Trubisky's development.
When does the Trubisky of the fourth quarter take over as the full-time Bears quarterback and when does the inconsistent Trubisky vanish for good? It's an eternal question about developing quarterbacks.
"You know, if I knew the answer to that I probably wouldn't be sitting here," quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo said Monday. "I'd probably be in Cabo somewhere with a boatload of money.
"But no, what you try to do is either you try to show them why things didn’t happen the way you wanted them to happen in the first half."
One thing Trubisky did well in the win over the Lions is something former quarterbacks coach and current passing game coordinator Dave Ragone tried to instill in him for a few years. That would be developing a sense of timing as to when to leave the pocket and when to scramble.
"Again I wish I had a crystal ball to know when all of that is going to come together for every quarterback in this league but I saw the right timing for Mitchell of leaving the pocket in this Sunday's game and you hope that continues forward," Ragone said.
They want to see Trubisky staying put or floating one way or other with the ball while hoping other receivers come open, much the way the Bears have seen Aaron Rodgers do it against them for years in Green Bay.
As for actual passing mechanics, Sunday was also a mixed bag there.
DeFilippo said Trubisky had Allen Robinson on a go-route and missed in the third quarter from the Lions 43 because he had flat feet and too wide of a stance with the throw.
"Probably, the one I know he would like to have back is the go ball to A-Rob, the go ball to A-Rob," DeFilippo said "He had a step on him and we got to make that throw."
On the other hand, both the 1-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham and the short toss on the roll left to Javon Wims for 2-yard TDs ranked as standout throws, though not nearly in the class of the 27-yard TD pass to Miller.
The 1-yarder go Graham in particular excited coaches because they were sure the Lions knew it was coming and yet Trubisky pin-pointed the throw where only Graham could get it.
"That ball took the defender out of the play because he put it to the outside with ball placement," Ragone said.
Some Trubisky plays left everyone shaking their head, particularly the fourth-quarter sack and lost fumble. Trubisky had the ball out where it can't be and it was easy to poke it out, but was spared by Charles Leno Jr. falling on the loose ball.
"On the fumble, that can't happen," DeFilippo said. "We can't make a bad play worse and we gotta make sure we tuck the ball away.
"There were a couple of plays when Mitch got outside of the pocket, we need to tuck the ball away as well when we're on the run, so the last thing we want to do is fumble the football. Charles did a great job of getting on that ball. But that can’t happen."
Coach Matt Nagy found flaws regarding what is perhaps Trubisky's great area of need.
"Decision-making, as you go through the tape, there's some times that I think that Mitch can be better with some of his decision-making and he needs to and he will," Nagy said. "What we keep going back to is, OK, then you get to the fourth quarter and you end up having three really good throws for touchdowns. He was 8-for-10 and at some critical times made some critical throws.
"The biggest thing that we have to get to is the consistency throughout the game. We've gotta be more consistent and we need to help the offense in general do that, and when you asked the question about Mitchell, he needs to do that as well. Third down, it's unacceptable for us to be 0-for-7 or 0-for-8. That's unacceptable. You just can't have that. You're not gonna win in this league. So that's gotta get fixed."
And since Nagy was rolling, why stop him now? The Bears squandered two chances for touchdowns in the first half and accepted short field goals.
"And then in the red zone, I said it to (media) last week: touchdowns, touchdowns, touchdowns," Nagy said. "You have to have touchdowns, and we did in the fourth quarter but let's do it the right way.
"Let's start from the beginning. Let's not go three-and-out to start the game. Let's get a third down. Let's move the sticks."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
