The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Trubisky, Bears offense fighting inconsistency
BOURBONNAIS, ILL. >> The Bears’ offense hasn’t progressed to a point where it can consistently beat the defense at practice. Then again, few teams could.
“I mean, I don’t think a defense has existed like this,” offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said Friday after practice.
Players and coaches look ahead to when they’re game-planning opponents instead of going against their own first-team defense, all while downplaying an early lack of rhythm in their passing game between receivers and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky of Mentor.
“He’s not where we want him to be yet,” second-year coach Matt Nagy said about Trubisky. “He knows that. I think right now, the best part for us is we’re getting a lot of different looks (from the defense), and we’re moving people around in different spots.
“And we’re just watching him grow. He’s leaps and bounds further than he was last year.”
At practice Aug. 2, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix took advantage of his first meaningful scrimmage time by picking off Trubisky’s throw to Allen Robinson in the end zone. Linebacker Danny Trevathan also picked off a deflected Trubisky pass. Earlier in the week, Khalil Mack’s pass rush led to an interception.
“I’m looking at mistakes and I’m looking at areas I’ve grown in, and then when we have a mistake on the field, make sure I’m talking to my guys and make sure we’re fixing it,” Trubisky said earlier in the week.
Trubisky said he is realistic as he tries to lead the Bears back from a 21st ranking both in offense and passing offense.
“Just continue to criticize myself and try to be a perfectionist, but I see the growth as well,” Trubisky said. “It’s practice. You’re going to make mistakes. They’re meant to be made, but you’ve got to come back and correct them and get better each day.”
Trubisky’s deep passing has been spotty, in particular.
“Deep ball right now ... they’re probably not (completing) as much as last year, just because right now we feel pretty good with knowing we can do that,” Nagy said. “We’ll keep it going. And that stuff is going to come. He knows how we do things. He knows our mentality of touchdown-tocheckdown. So I’m not really concerned with that.”
Nagy said the individual pass isn’t as important as Trubisky’s reaction.
“You’re never going to have great practices all the time,” Nagy said. “If there really was a practice that was just OK, when it’s kind of choppy, what I’m looking for is how does he handle that situation? Does he mope? Does he put his head down? Or does he freaking get ready for the next play and get ready to roll?”