Bears: Comparing Mitchell Trubisky’s first three years to other prominent quarterbacks

Mitchell Trubisky compared to Matt Ryan

First up for comparison is Matt Ryan. Ryan is one of the better pure passers in the game today. The question is, did he start out that way? The Atlanta Falcons drafted Ryan third overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. Ryan is now 34 years old and part of a struggling Falcons franchise that has not seemed to recover since their epic choke job to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51.

Ryan did not hit the ground running during his transition from Boston College to the NFL. He had success in his rookie season in regards to the team’s overall record, but Ryan was not the major reason why. The team’s identity was as a rushing team. Michael “the Burner” Turner ran for nearly 1,700 yards and scored 17 touchdowns on the ground that year. The Falcons were 11-5 and Matt Ryan tasted his first bit of success.

That success faded quickly as the team lost in the Wild Card round to the Arizona Cardinals and Ryan turned the ball over three times, while only throwing for 199 yards. If we back it up and look at his regular season stats that year, Ryan was mediocre at best. Ryan completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 3,440 yards and 16 touchdowns. He turned the ball over 15 times. He threw 11 interceptions and lost four of his six fumbles.

Matt Ryan improved slightly in some areas in his sophomore season. He only played in 14 games but threw for 22 touchdowns. He only completed 58 percent of his passes though and turned the ball over 17 times.

Ryan started coming on stronger in year three, but what is important to note is that he had the same head coach in Mike Smith and the same offensive coordinator in Mike Mularkey all three years. Mitchell Trubisky has not had that luxury and is technically only in year two of his current coaches’ system.

Over his first three seasons, Matt Ryan combined for 10,061 yards in 46 games. That is only 218 yards per game. Now, we must note that passing attacks today are much greater than in the late 2000s, but that number would not inflate to over 300. More like 240 yards per game, which is still better than Trubisky’s 206 yards per game average.

From a scoring and turnover standpoint, Ryan combined for 68 touchdowns and 45 turnovers compared to Trubisky who currently has 54 touchdowns and 37 turnovers with three games left. The two are nearly identical with a 1.51 (Ryan) and 1.46 (Trubisky) touchdown to turnover ratio.

Matt Ryan was selected to his first Pro Bowl in his third year and made the playoffs twice during his first three years. As you can see, Ryan has seen slightly better success over his first three years in the league, but as I already pointed out, he had the luxury of playing in the same system all three years.