Chicago Bears: Scouts Offer Opinions on Trubisky

Even as opening day is at hand, most Chicago Bears fans are looking towards the future. All of it due to the presence of Mitch Trubisky.

The young quarterback flashed plenty of promise in the preseason, completing over 67% of his passes with three touchdowns and no turnovers. Sure he had his rookie moments but the amount of advanced play he showed despite starting just 13 college games at North Carolina came as a shock. Not just to the fans either. Head coach John Fox freely admitted he and the staff were taken aback by his rapid progress.

Opinions across the board in Chicago are that he’s done everything asked of him and earned the right to be the backup. Some of course will argue he’s better than current starter Mike Glennon as well. Nonetheless the Bears have adhered to their plan to bring Trubisky along slowly. That hasn’t stopped the opinions from rolling in about his progress though.

Trubisky hype isn’t losing any steam in NFL community

Dan Pompeii of The Athletic talked with three scouts from across the league and asked their opinions on a number of Bears subjects. Of course it had to start with the young quarterback. Their replies were most encouraging.

"“Scout A: “With a rookie, I always look to see if he plays calm. He did. It didn’t look too fast for him. I don’t think it will be too long before he’s playing. [Mike] Glennon might have a better arm, but it’s close. Trubisky is a better athlete, and he’s able to play faster. His most impressive plays were rollouts, and on the run. That’s a little bit of a concern. But the pocket stuff didn’t look bad.”Scout B:  “Trubisky played really well in the preseason. It appeared he was the best of their three quarterbacks. But how you gauge if he’s ready to play is more internal. It’s how the coaches feel he is picking up the playbook. Inside the building, they know a lot more than we do on the outside.”Scout C: “In April I thought it was a stretch to be the first quarterback taken. But in the preseason he showed he can make all the throws, he’s athletic, he can extend it, he has confidence, he’s not afraid to take a shot — all the things you want. It’s not too big for him. He’s even-keeled. It was a pleasure to watch him. He’s going to be a good player. I hope for his development he doesn’t play this year. He should just learn and develop. You just don’t want to put him out there too soon.”"

In other words they were all just as surprised by his performance as the Bears were. Trubisky caught a lot of flak before the draft about only starting one year in college. Most felt he should’ve stayed in school another year, gained more experience. Of course it’s easy to say that when projections have him going high in the upcoming draft.

He was left with a choice. Risk the experience loss in favor of a bigger payday or return to school and risk injury. Trubisky chose option one, no doubt believing he could work his way through the experience problem. Early returns prove he might’ve made the right call.