Can the Bears Turn Mitchell Trubisky Into a Starter?
The Chicago Bears are notorious for their quarterback problems. They haven’t had great consistency at the position since the days of Jim McMahon, and even then it was hit and miss. Can the Bears get Mitchell Trubisky on board and get him “right”? Can he develop into a franchise quarterback?
The Bears shocked the NFL world when they drafted Mitchell Trubisky, a quarterback from the University of North Carolina. They did it with the second pick in the 2017 NFL Draft after trading up one spot. They clearly had their sights set on him and did what it took to get him. And now, they have to develop him into a future franchise quarterback. But can they do that?
If you have been keeping track of the Bears’ quarterback issues over the past twenty plus years, you may have noticed that they have a problem. They’ve had a series of quarterbacks that have been ineffective. Or, the quarterbacks have been effective game managers but nothing spectacular. These quarterbacks have won games but have never won a Super Bowl.
They spent eight years with Jay Cutler and depending on who you talk to, that may have been a waste of time. That set them back, and they were never able to really “rise above” and become consistent winners. Chicago has now moved on and has started a new chapter in their “quarterback life.”
Chicago Bears
Chicago has stumbled, at times, with first-round picks at quarterback. Cade McNown comes to mind, but his problems were more his own than Chicago’s. Then you had Rex Grossman. Grossman showed flashes but never quite put it together and fizzled out after a few seasons with the Bears.
Now they have Trubisky. It’s time they did their very best to get him to be their franchise quarterback.
Great quarterbacks have either had great quarterback coaches or, more likely, great offensive coordinators. What does Chicago have at these two spots? At offensive coordinator, they have Dowell Loggains. Loggains has been with the Bears since head coach John Fox took over in 2015. He started out as the quarterbacks coach. After Adam Gase had left for the Miami Dolphins, Loggains became the offensive coordinator.
Loggains experience, before coming to the Bears, was as a quarterback coach in Cleveland and Tennessee. He was also the Titans’ offensive coordinator for a short time. He has only been in the NFL in a coaching or personnel capacity since 2008.
On paper, his experience is somewhat shaky or better yet, lacking.
Chicago’s quarterbacks coach, Dave Ragone, has similar experience. Ragone was an NFL player for a short amount of time playing for three NFL teams and one NFL Europe team. His NFL career, as a player, lasted three years and he never really saw that much action.
In 2010, Ragone made his debut as a quarterback coach with the Hartford Colonials. He moved on to be the Tennessee Titan’s wide receivers coach from 2011 to 2012 then their quarterback coach in 2013. He spent the 2015 season with the Washington Redskins as their offensive quality control coach and then landed with the Bears in 2016.
Just like Loggains, Ragone does not have a lot of experience which makes people a little nervous when it comes to coaching up a recruit like Trubisky. You want to be sure that you bring him up the right way and with the right coaches. You want those coaches to have good knowledge that they can pass on to the player and you want them to have a system that can be understood by the quarterback.
It would appear as if the Bears may not have that with Loggains and Ragone.
On its face, it looks like the Bears lack the quality coaching needed to bring Trubisky up to become a franchise quarterback. So if Chicago doesn’t have the coaches they need on the team right now than will they have them in the future?
More seriously, could Trubisky be “ruined” by the less experienced coaching staff to the point he will never become an effective starter? Is this something to be worried about or will Loggains and Ragone be capable of getting Trubisky ready to start?
The odds are good that the current coaching staff is not going to be around in 2018. General Manager Ryan Pace could be looking to see what he has with John Fox and his crew for one more year then pull the plug. Rumors out there say that the Bears are interested in Jim Harbaugh. Michigan’s head coach. They are also floating around Pat Fitzgerald’s name. He is the coach of the Northwestern Wildcats. Maybe a new coaching staff is coming, and perhaps they will be able to help Trubisky develop better than the existing one can?
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But we haven’t given the existing coaching staff a shot yet.
Chicago doesn’t need Trubisky to be their starter right away, so he has time to sit and learn. Eventually (hopefully) he will become the starter that Bears drafted him to be. But will he be a starter under Fox or another coach? And if Fox and company are let go, can the Bears find another coaching staff that can finish developing Trubisky and make him a star?
The development and eventual starting of Trubisky will be one of the biggest storylines for the Bears over the next few seasons. The Bears can’t afford to have another quarterback stumble. The curse at that position needs to be broken. To avoid this, they need to provide Trubisky with the right tools to succeed. If they can do that, he will be their franchise quarterback for several seasons to come and will lead them to a Super Bowl.
Will Trubisky be the guy that finally brings the Bears out of quarterback hell? We will all be waiting anxiously to see if he is that guy.