Bears Eyeing Mitch Trubisky Return Against the Saints
It has been nearly three weeks since fans have seen the Bears young, beloved signal caller in action. According to coach Matt Nagy, that wait may soon be coming to an end.
Matt Nagy spoke to the media on Thursday and said that Trubisky is “feeling good” and will be taking most of the first team reps at practice this week. As the team prepares to face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Nagy was not the only one who was able to notice the strides Trubisky has taken towards recovery. Bears WR Taylor Gabriel, who is also hopeful to return from injury, said that Mitch “looked like himself” during team practices this week.
Nearly everyone can agree that Chase Daniel has been less than stellar in Trubisky’s absence. Not horrible, but not great either, as the Bears lost in his only start of the season. With that being said, Daniel is still among one of the better backups in the league. He isn’t setting the world on fire, because he’s not supposed to. He’s been a backup his entire career. For fans who were expecting him to step into the offense and just start tearing it up, sorry to say you will never get that from him and that’s fine. Chase Daniel plays a role on this team, and he seems to do a great job of filling that role.
I think there are a few things that Trubisky can really take away from Chase’s game. For one, Chase seems much more comfortable waiting in the pocket and giving the play a chance to develop. This is not always easy given the play of the Bears offensive line so far, but it’s often crucial in the execution of most passing plays. If Mitch is able to add this to his skillset, it will help him immensely. Not only would he have better windows to throw the ball into, he would also get hit less and stay healthier. His recent injury happened while scrambling out of the pocket (as seen below).
This is not to say that Mitch needs to stop running all together. His ability to scramble is actually one of his best attributes as a QB. Not many quarterbacks or players in the league can make plays like this:
Look for the offense to open up a little bit more with Mitch coming back. He’s simply more athletic and does things that Chase Daniel can’t do. He just needs to be more patient.
More often than not, a QB can only be as successful as the situation he’s playing in. This means Mitch will need some help from Nagy’s play calling, which has been inconsistent thus far. Nagy will need his O-line to step up, both in pass protection as well as run blocking. If they’re able to do this, it should create more holes for Montgomery and Cohen and will help take some of the pressure off Mitch.
Im very excited to see what the offense is able to do after a long bye week. They’ve had time to do some self-reflection after a bad loss to the Raiders in London. Let’s hope that individual players, along with several position groups, are able to step up this week against a talented Saints team.
While it can be disheartening to see their young QB have two separate shoulder injuries, one on each shoulder in the span of just two years, Chicago still needs to have faith in Mitch. Neither shoulder injury was season-ending and some might say he came back even better after his injury last season.
Mitch Trubisky led his team to an NFC North title, going 12-4 and taking them to the playoffs in his first full season as a starter. I think some people forget that. Bear Down
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