Trubisky takes final rookie step against the Vikings

LAKE FOREST, ILL. » Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky never expected to line up under center only five games into his rookie season with the Chicago Bears.

With one game left, Trubisky would now like nothing better than to provide tangible evidence of how far he has come since first stepping into the starting lineup.

Against a backdrop of uncertainty over the coaching staff for next year, Trubisky on Dec. 31 closes his first season against the Minnesota Vikings, the same team he lost to 20-17 at Soldier Field on Oct. 7 in his NFL debut.

“I think every situation’s different,” Trubisky said.

“For me personally, I wanted to be thrown in as quickly as possible, but I respected and appreciated the plan they had for me, and I think it worked out.

“You can’t go back and change things but knowing what I know now, it worked for what we were trying to do here.”

Trubisky was supposed to play behind Mike Glennon, but eight turnovers in a three-game stretch led to a quarterback change for the first Vikings game.

Although Trubisky has won just four of his 11 starts and has a passer rating of 78.5, he calls his forced playing time a success.

“I feel good about it,” Trubisky said. “Just go back to two words: growth and development. Try to get better every day. I had a lot of fun.”

In the first game with the Vikings, Trubisky went 12 for 25 for 128 yards and gave the Vikings the chance for the winning field goal by throwing a late fourth-quarter interception to Harrison Smith at the Bears 22-yard line.

“We’re doing a little bit more with him,” Fox said. “So they’re a very, very good defense, they’re No. 1 in probably four of the five main categories of defense. At their place on a fast

track, that’ll be a stiff challenge no doubt, no different than it was here months ago in his first start.”

The Bears ran a scaleddown version of the playbook in Trubisky’s early starts.

“We’ve expanded it, we definitely have,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “And he’s doing more at the line of scrimmage now with protection checks and audibles.

“We’re able to do some more check-with-me stuff. We’re not where we’d like to be, still, yet. But he’s done a really good job of handling all that stuff.”

As the Bears have removed restraints on Trubisky, he’s put up bigger and better numbers. In the last four games, Trubisky is 82 for 116 (71 percent) for 880 yards. He had completed 53 percent for an average of 162 yards over his first seven games.

After being taken 1-2 in the 2016 NFL draft, Rams quarterback Jared Goff and Eagles QB Carson Wentz made drastic improvement in Year 2. Trubisky, chosen second this year, anticipates something similar in 2018.

“I expect to make a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2,” Trubisky said. “The experience I’ve got this year, I’m definitely going to carry that with me into the offseason, going into next year, and expect to have a lot of momentum and just a full head of steam going into next year.”