Chicago Bears: The keys to Mitch Trubisky beating the Packers

What about Mitch Trubisky’s ability to read a defense?

So let’s dig in a little on Trubisky’s other big flaw — reading defenses. Mitch Trubiksy’s intelligence has been unfairly called into question because he has so often misread defenses and not thrown to wide-open targets. This harsh judgment has included some so-called experts. Even some ex-Bears have jumped on this bandwagon.

However, it is important to acknowledge that everyone has their own pace in learning things in general and learning certain subjects. This does not mean they do not have the capacity to learn it. I strongly suspect that Nagy was a hindrance in this endeavor.

I have always thought that Nagy placed the highest priority on Trubisky learning the voluminous playbook he brought with him over from Kansas City. Knowing Nagy’s obsession with his playbook this seems, very likely.

If this is what happened then an equal or greater priority for Trubisky should have been to task him with spending more time on learning the voluminous ways defensive coordinators try to trick young quarterbacks and also the ways they make life difficult for experienced quarterbacks.

Hopefully, with some extra time on his hands in between games, Trubisky — the motivated perfectionist, spent lots of his time studying defenses. Another obstacle to Trubisky’s learning curve was too often he locked onto his primary target. It is logical to assume it was not for lack of intelligence that he did not throw to open targets but because he did not see them as he was locked too often on his primary read.

This is a common mistake made by quarterbacks when learning their complicated job under a microscope. It appears to me that Trubisky focused so much on getting the ball to his primary receiver, it stunted his growth in reading defenses.

It is also reasonable to assume that a perfectionist, like Trubisky, would be heavily focused on hitting his primary receiver first and foremost. This of course is what would make it the perfect play. It is also understandable to a degree that Trubisky would laser focus on his primary read for this reason. Most often that guy was the best player on the Bears’ offense. That being the very clutch and sticky-fingered, Allen Robinson.

It is not too late for Mitch Trubisky to get good at reading defenses this season and beyond. This will only happen though if he is given the opportunity, the right coach and he puts tons of effort into it. However, we know Trubisky is a football version of the gym rat so there should be no lack of motivation by him to work hard to accelerate learning this essential part of being a successful quarterback.

I am hoping but not predicting that all this will happen. In fact, it is quite doubtful this will start in the upcoming Packers game. Based on Matt Nagy’s comments this week, it sounds as if he wants to focus on their run game against the Packers. This is not a bad idea but it is focusing on their short-term problem without also addressing their big picture problems.

Step back for a moment and imagine if this plan did in fact work. It would be like injecting rocket fuel into Mitch Trubisky’s self-confidence. A self-confident and accurate Mitch Trubisky opens up all sorts of possibilities for the Bears. Whatever happens on Sunday I still believe that if Matt Nagy and his coaches get creative and focused on fixing Mitch Trubisky, they can, ultimately, make some sweet Chicago lemonade out of Matt Nagy’s Chicago Bear lemons.