Mitchell Trubisky's struggles take center stage for Bears-Redskins on Yahoo Sports app
Let’s get a sampling of headlines in Chicago over the past week ...
“Lowering the bar for Mitch Trubisky”
“Mitch Trubisky has been a mess and the Bears offense appears allergic to the end zone. Is it fixable?”
“Trust in Mitch Trubisky is dwindling. For good reason”
“Mitch Trubisky says, ‘You just gotta believe this week is gonna be the week.’ Believers will be scarce if it isn’t this week”
“Mitch at night: Trubisky must show Bears he can thrive in prime time”
And this was after a Chicago Bears win.
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As the Bears get set to face the Washington Redskins on Monday night, a game that can be live-streamed on the Yahoo Sports app, there’s going to be only one thing on the minds of Chicago sports fans, and it’s not the utter collapse of the Cubs.
Mitchell Trubisky’s struggles are a concern
Trubisky has been a hot-button player since the moment he entered the NFL. The Bears traded up one spot, from No. 3 overall to No. 2, to take him. Everyone freaked out and thought the Bears panicked.
Trubisky has been good at times. He was a big part of the Bears’ surprising NFC North championship last season. He made a Pro Bowl, albeit as an injury replacement. It gets forgotten in the never-ending angst over the “double-doink” missed field goal, but Trubisky led the Bears on a last-minute drive in a wild-card game against the Philadelphia Eagles to attempt that game-winning field goal. He has had his good moments.
None of those moments have come this season, however. With the NFL world watching in the first game of the regular season, Trubisky struggled mightily against the Green Bay Packers. The Bears didn’t score a touchdown. In Week 2, Chicago’s only touchdown came on a drive with nine runs and no passes.
Trubisky has 348 yards, no touchdowns and one interception through two games for a brutal 65 passer rating. In Pro Football Focus’ grades he ranks 34th among 35 qualified quarterbacks, ahead of only Teddy Bridgewater. Chicago is concerned.
Trubisky gets a good matchup
The negativity surrounding Trubisky isn’t helped by the fact that Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, the two quarterbacks taken after Trubisky in the first round, are among the NFL’s best players.
Meanwhile, the Bears offense after two games has become way too conservative, with their young quarterback rarely throwing the ball downfield. Maybe that’s the product of tough matchups against the Packers and Denver Broncos, but it has been a hard offense to watch.
“So we haven’t been executing the way we want to,” Trubisky said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “There (are) definitely some things that we are missing on film, but we’re coming together and we’re correcting them. The most important thing to me is that my guys still believe in me. I believe in myself and we’re one unit. We’re together.”
This matchup will be telling for Trubisky and the Bears offense. Washington has been terrible against the pass, allowing a 124.8 passer rating through two games. This seems like a game in which the Bears should have some success throwing the ball.
Trubisky came into the NFL as a raw quarterback with just 13 career starts at North Carolina, then as a rookie was saddled with a coaching staff that couldn’t help him. He had a promising second season, but is quickly giving back a lot of those positive vibes with his start this year.
If Trubisky struggles again against Washington, those headlines aren’t going to get any friendlier.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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