5 signs of growth from Mitch Trubisky

Chicago Bears (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Bears, Mitchell Trubisky, Jimmy Graham
Chicago Bears – Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports /

Less Aggressiveness

Many fans and analysts have mentioned that Matt Nagy finally decided to fit his offense around Mitch Trubisky. There are changes for sure, but Nagy has always wanted an offense where the quarterback gets the ball out quickly into the hands of his playmakers.

Nagy has always compared the quarterback to the point guard, who moves the ball around. So, while Nagy may have made adjustments on offense, it is fair to say that Trubisky is also doing what his coach has expected of him more often.

Last year, Trubisky had a 12% deep throw rate. That number is down to 8% in the past five weeks. It was 17% to start the 2020 year. It is clear that Trubisky has realized to cool it on pushing the ball downfield, and rather to take what is given.

The change can be shown in intended air yards. For his career, Trubisky has an 8.3 intended air yard distance on passes. However, since being benched, that number is down to 7.2 More, he has 5 air yards per completion, which was only 5.7 when he was throwing the ball downfield further.

With that in mind, Trubisky had a 2.2 air yard differential this year compared to 2.6 last year. He is throwing shorter and completing more passes. This is leaving less unrealized air yards on field, and giving his receivers more to work with.