TOP OF THE THIRD, LOOK WHO’S COMING UP
On the eve of Year 3, Trubisky has full faith of Bears, who are counting on improvement
It has been a pleasantly quiet offseason for the Bears, and that’s usually how it goes for good teams. General manager Ryan Pace made a few tweaks here and there, mainly at running back and safety, but there was little else that needed to be done to a team that went 12-4 and hasn’t hit its ceiling.
But the Bears believe they actually did make a big, splashy offseason “acquisition,” and it’s not Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. It’s at quarterback. If Mitch Trubisky keeps his trajectory going with a leap in Year 3, that’s a bigger upgrade than anything the team could’ve bought in free agency.
“The word that comes to mind for me is incremental improvement — steady, incremental improvement,” Pace said. “I think we’ve seen him do that. As long as he just keeps on that pace . . . we’ll be happy.
“You can feel his confidence growing. Chemistry, continuity . . . that’s going to continue as we go forward.”
If the Bears are serious about a Super Bowl run, it must. Pace and coach Matt Nagy are betting the season on it.
There’s enough talent, especially on defense, for the Bears to be good, but it’ll require significant strides from Trubisky for them to be a championship contender. They won’t be in that mix unless he’s great. Don’t be fooled if Nagy and Pace say otherwise to shield him from the spotlight.
And at this point, with players reporting for training camp Thursday in Bourbonnais, they think he’s ready. When Pace said flatly the team has “the right people in place,” at the kickoff event Sunday in Decatur, it was with the belief that Trubisky will surge into the top tier of quarterbacks.
While there’s never a guarantee that any young quarterback will keep climbing, Pace’s optimism is well-reasoned.
After rattling through the typical rookie travails after Pace drafted him No. 2 overall, Trubisky got better across the board last season. He was a midrange NFL starter, which is a