Chicago Bears QB Mitch Trubisky: My confidence is fine
Anyone worried that Mitch Trubisky's confidence might have taken a hit because he was allowed to throw just 7 passes last week and 16 the week before can relax.
“My confidence is fine,” the rookie quarterback said. “Winning's the most important thing. I don't care if I throw zero passes if we win the game. I don't care if I'm not playing if we're winning the game. As long as the Chicago Bears are winning, we're doing something right.”
That being said, Trubisky clearly wants to be more than a game manager, a caretaker, or any of the other euphemisms used for quarterbacks in conservative offenses.
He has averaged just 16 pass attempts in his first three NFL starts. Last year at North Carolina, he averaged just more than 23 completions per game.
But the Bears have won back-to-back games with the rookie after his debut, a 20-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings when, by comparison, he launched an aerial blitzkrieg, throwing 25 passes.
“The positive is we're winning,” Trubisky said. “There's no replacement for that. As (offensive coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) says, 'That's a fact.' But it's also fact that we need to continue to get better.”
Even though he threw just 7 passes Sunday in the 17-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers, Trubisky had a personal-best 101.8 passer rating. Statistically, he has improved with each start, including a 60.1 passer rating against the Vikings and 94.0 in the Week 6 overtime victory over the Ravens in Baltimore.
Loggains knows Trubisky yearns for a bigger role, and he has assured him that the day will come when the Bears need all of his playmaking abilities. It could come as soon as Sunday against the Saints in New Orleans' Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
“It is frustrating, and he wants to affect the game,” Loggains said. “That (Panthers game), and how we chose to play it as an organization, he wasn't going to affect the game that way. It was a hard game for Mitchell to go through.
“We're excited to go out and be aggressive and throw the ball and be balanced this week. I believe in this quarterback a lot. I think he's a guy who can handle whatever you're going to give him.”
Loggains sees encouraging signs from Trubisky in every phase of his preparation and review. And it's obvious that Trubisky is self-aware and self-critical, but not at the expense of self-confidence.
“I think that's where he's won the respect of these guys,” Loggains said. “When you watch how he interacts in the huddle and watch him after the game in the locker room, these guys really care about him, and it's because he takes ownership of everything.
“We talk about the 4 sacks we gave up as an offense, and we only (dropped back) 11 times. Mitchell is the first one to say, 'No. Two of those sacks were on me.' The accountability he has to his teammates and his coaches is unique.”
Trubisky shrugs off the accountability compliments and says he hasn't noticed it affecting teammates one way or another. That's probably because he considers that a prerequisite for the job and part of his personality.
“I just think that's how I've been as a person and a player,” the 23-year-old said. “I believe I should hold myself to a higher standard than everyone else, and then hopefully everyone else will follow in line.
“Nothing's going to be perfect, but if you strive for perfection, hopefully everyone else's job is easier. That's what I'm trying to do, and I'll continue to get better.
“I'm confident in my abilities and what we have with this offense and where we're headed. We're going to continue to get better — I'm going to make sure of that.”
No lack of confidence there.