‘This is the type of offense I should be in’
Bears QB on working with Matt Nagy, the new scheme and striving for success
Mitch Trubisky is about to embark on his second NFL training camp and his first as the Bears’ starting quarterback. He recently sat down with the Tribune for an interview about a wide range of topics. Here’s a portion of the transcript, edited for clarity and length.
Mitch, the start of training camp always comes way too quickly. But what did you do in your limited amount of down time to get away, decompress and get away from football?
I was actually pretty busy the whole time. I went back home, spent some time with my family, went down to North Carolina, saw my old college teammates who are also in the pros. My college coaches. And then I was out in Cali, working out. And the whole time I’m working out. The whole time, throwing balls.
Really, these last two weeks when I was out in California, I really just locked myself in a hotel room and was strictly training. Two-adays. Just getting prepped for the season and getting my mind and body ready to go. It goes fast. But I got to do a little bit of everything, see my friends and family, which is most important to me. And we’re back doing the best thing in the world. So it’s not too bad to come back and start playing some football.
We wanted to dig in with you about your partnership with Coach (Matt) Nagy. After working together for three months during the offseason program, what about him connects with you? What resonates with you about his style, about the way he goes about his business?
I think for one, football aside, he’s just a really sincere, genuine person. And from a human standpoint — that’s amazing to have. You want to be around this guy because he’s positive. Upbeat. Energy. Always looking at the bright side of things. And he’s very passionate about what he does. I can tell how smart he is and all the experience and knowledge he has gained over the years.
And then you combine all his knowledge with how passionate and how sincere he is, it’s just an easy combination. He makes things easy on us and he’s a very understanding guy. But he’s also competitive. So he’s challenging me every day. Which I love. He’s trying to see how much I can handle, how much we can install over the summer, and he knows that I want to be great. So he’s going to push me. It’s like how you build any relationship — with communication and trust and positivity. He knows I believe in him. And I have to continue to gain his trust, and he’s going to believe in me, and hopefully we’ll be rolling from there. It’s been a great start and definitely a great relationship that I look forward to having for many, many years.
When we talk to people about Coach Nagy, there are three words that come up often. We’re going to give you them one at a time and see how you’ve seen this or if you’ve seen this in him. First, “creative.” In what ways do you see that?
Every day at practice, even if we did an install, he’s always trying to add something to the offense. A little wrinkle. Whether it be … a motion, a play-action, just always trying to take it to the next level to get an upper hand on the defense. It’s always just like who can put out the next best thing in the business world. It’s like who can do the most creative thing with the different weapons we have. Each team is different. We have different weapons. And he’s that creative mind who’s thinking how many ways can we use all these guys? How can we get them the ball? How can we get past this defense?
And he’s just coming up with new ways every single day. And he’s not afraid to do it. It’ll be on the spot. Like, “Let’s try this. Now.” And if it works, it usually does. And if not, we live with it. It’s really interesting to see. And it challenges us to think that way too. Like let’s be more creative. How can we take this play and make it a little better? And he’s not afraid to look at a play and be like, “Oh, this can be better.” And that’s how he’s able to be more and more creative.
The second word is “detailed.”
Yeah. Super detailed. You can make a play more creative. But, again, if you just go back and go to the basics and detail out the play and do the small things absolutely perfect, then the most basic play can be unstoppable.
So it’s all about my footwork. The body language. Where I’m standing on the field when I’m getting the play call. Where I’m walking into the huddle. How I’m saying the play call. How we’re attacking the line of scrimmage. How I’m looking left to right, left to right, getting everybody set. Those kinds of details. Before I even get into my footwork, thinking about the play. How I’m taking notes in meeting rooms. How we’re communicating all those types of details.
The last word is “collaborative.” Obviously he’s someone who wants to interact with his coaches, with his players and have that back and forth.
Amazing. Yeah. And like I say, he’s not afraid to change a play to make it better. He’s not afraid to ask for help. He is the man running the show. But getting ideas from Coach (Mark) Helfrich. Getting ideas from Coach (Dave) Ragone. Talking to me. Asking the other quarterbacks. Asking players what they’ve done at other places. But ultimately making that his own. Making it our own. And that’s where he says, “It’s all about us. It’s all about the 2018 Chicago Bears. Let’s make this offense our own.” It is going to be our thing and he’s just making sure everyone is involved. It’s very inclusive. It’s just a healthy learning environment.
Coach Nagy’s vision is something that I think a lot of players bought into almost immediately when he got around you guys in the spring. When you walk into his office and you see an entire wall that’s a whiteboard and he has this whole brainstorming (canvas), what does that represent to you in terms of his want and desire to brainstorm and be that guy?
I think anytime you’re around him it goes back to his contagious personality. You want to be around him. You want to learn from him. And you want to believe in everything he’s saying. The way he’s gone about it, everybody has really bought into his plan and just want to jump in so quick. So, yeah, he has everything on his wall. He is so detailed. He has this plan. He has this vision. He’s putting it to work step by step and he’s doing it the right way and we’re doing it as fast as possible. But without overwhelming anybody. The installations. How we’re going about it. He’s a first-time head coach, so he’s learning on the go too. I’m in my second year. We’re all learning on the go. And we’re all in this together. Keep it collaborative, like you said earlier. And it’s continuously moving in the right direction. Ultimately it’s believing in the plan and doing what he envisions.
Do you have a grasp for what that board will mean when you guys get into regularseason game planning?
We kind of got a little sneak peek of that during OTAs when we were having practices for specific teams, and it will get even more detailed when we get into the preseason games. I kind of know how we game planned last year. But I’m really interested to see how we get into a full week where I’m game planning with Nagy, Helfrich, Ragone and the two quarterbacks we have this year — Chase (Daniel) and Ty (Tyler Bray) — how we go about it and what routine we have going into each week.
I know it’s going to be efficient. I know it’s going to work for us. Because everything we’ve done this summer has been super quick and efficient and we’ve been learning really quickly. I get that feel that the game weeks are going to be that way as well. It’s all about playing fast on Sunday, and we’ve been playing fast in practice all summer long. So eliminating confusion and any doubt and going out and executing the plays is what our game plan is going to be all about.
To learn the offense, what is your study method? Late at night, in the dorm or in the hotel, what do you do to stay sharp?
I’m a big flashcard guy. And I’m a big drawing guy. So I draw the plays. I draw the names. Write out all the play calls so that I can see it and then speaking it visually.
And then when I can get in the same room as Coach or the other quarterbacks, talking it back and forth. Coach will instruct me, and then when it’s just me and him, have me teach him. Because they say you really know things well when you can explain something really complex really simply. So if I can teach it back to Coach, then I can sit down with my receivers, my tight ends, my running backs and teach it to them. That means I know it pretty well. So I like to go back and forth, have a dialogue about what we’re learning.
And then when I’m on my own, doing flashcards and drawing it. And then like, I like keywords. Vocab words. So it’s definitely writing it out and having a visual cue. And then obviously you have everything you watch on film too. But when you’re just learning straight concepts or verbiage, for me, it’s writing it down, speaking it out, teaching it and then just the more reps you can get at that, you make repetitions out of it.
Coach Nagy has talked about bringing the best out of you requiring putting your best skills at the forefront of everything you do and accentuating your strengths. When you look at your skill set and this system and the fit of those things together, what excites you most about this system and the way it’s compatible with you?
It excites me a lot. I feel like this is the type of offense I should be in. I feel great about that fact that Coach Nagy is saying those things. That we’ve got a quarterback that fits the system, that can do the things that are asked of the quarterback in the system. So will I be running this year? I don’t know. I can’t go into details; trying to keep it secretive. But those are the types of things we can exploit in this offense. Run me more. More quick passes. Hiding the ball on play-action. Stretching it down the field. All those types of things are things I could do.
Am I the guy who (goes) playaction, seven-step drop like we were doing last year? I got better at a lot of those things. But for Coach Nagy to say that we’re going to do what he’s good at, I feel like the things that I’m good at are within this offense. So, for me, it takes my comfort level to a whole new level.
The option part of this offense is exciting to a lot of people. From your standpoint, what are going to be the important challenges for you to master in terms of the ballhandling in this offense? And the decision-making?
Repetitions over and over again. And being decisive and living with your decision. Coach Nagy says that a lot: Don’t secondguess everything. If you’re going to be aggressive, be aggressive. Make the throw, and if you just decide you’re going to do something, then you’ll make it right with the throw. If you decide you’re going to pitch it, if you decide you’re going to run, if you decide you’re going to pull it — whatever you decide, just believe in that 100 percent, and your instincts will take over and you’ll make it work. It’s all about eliminating doubt, eliminating the gray area, just playing fast, processing through things, living with decisions and learning from mistakes. And just rolling. Whatever you decide to do, just do it.
Fifteen months now you’ve been a Chicago Bear. What is sharper about your appreciation of being the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears and what the city does in regards to rallying around the team and the quarterback?
I definitely don’t take this for granted. There’s a big responsibility that comes with it, and I’m very excited and grateful for this opportunity to be the quarterback of the Chicago Bears. I feel like me and this team have to put in the work necessary to give the fans what they deserve because of the energy and passion they give yearly at the games, showing up to training camp. We have to reciprocate that on the field with our love, passion, energy, and hopefully all that results in winning. Because everything is better when you win. The fans will be more excited. The city will be better. ... It’s time for the Bears to have success, and hopefully the fans will be excited about the season. I know we are.