Mitch Trubisky’s Improvement In Decision-Making Cited As Reason He Was Named The Bears’ Starter

Mitch Trubisky was named the Chicago Bears starter on Friday, about a week earlier than head coach Matt Nagy had claimed he would make the announcement. On Sunday, he talked about why he had decided on Trubisky and mentioned the quarterback’s improvement in decision-making as the big key, according to Bleacher Nation’s Luis Medina.

The coach held a Zoom press conference where he was specifically asked how Trubisky won the starting quarterback job. At first, he talked in generalities, saying that he had “worked hard” to beat out Nick Foles. He also talked about why there was a competition at all.

“We know that we all, in a lot of different areas, struggled in 2019. And so what I think was most impressive, from the end of the season until this past weekend was to be able to see some of the growth in practice and off the field that Mitch had.”

He added that Trubisky decided to “control what he could control” and that made him play better. It turns out that was part of the larger reason he won the job. He made a decision that his coaches were impressed by.

Later on, in the press conference, it was explained that Trubisky, in general, was making better decisions in practice and “in the room” when there were position meetings.

“We’re always working to try to get that better. And he knows that. You could feel the command. And I think the difference in the command that I felt, and our coaches felt, was it’s one where it’s very natural. It wasn’t made up. It wasn’t being told from somebody how to act. It was just very organic.”

As Medina pointed out, that isn’t a totally straight answer either, but the call might have just come down to Trubisky outplaying Foles because of all the other things the staff noticed on the practice field.

The writer also pointed out that Trubisky’s decision-making has long been a sore spot among Bears fans. He said it wasn’t just about turning the ball over in bad moments. There was also reading through his progressions and picking the wrong receiver on any given play was an issue as well.

Medina also pointed to comments from Nagy over the years talking about how Trubisky needed to make better reads against defenses. The analyst believes he might be seeing that from his starting QB in fall camp.

It’s not clear whether the quarterback competition could eventually go into the regular season, should Trubisky struggle, or whether Foles will serve as the backup barring an injury.