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Chicago Bears' Trubisky appears more relaxed

Something about Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky seemed different Wednesday at Halas Hall, and if what I sensed is accurate it was a change for the better.

Perhaps it was just the rest he's had not playing and barely practicing since the first quarter of the Minnesota Vikings game almost three weeks ago and being totally away from the game during the bye week.

Or perhaps it's a new and improved Mitch, more relaxed, more thoughtful and more his own man.

What seemed clear is that his rapid-fire, staccato responses to questions was slowed, and his tendency to fire off what sounded like scripted answers was replaced by a more thoughtful approach in which he seemed to be considering the question and trying to offer his own measured response rather than what often sounds like something he has been coached to repeat.

You may recall the heat Trubisky took a few weeks ago when asked a question about the Green Bay Packers game and he replied he wasn't supposed to talk about that anymore.

Wednesday, Trubisky was asked if his dislocated shoulder suffered against the Vikings was popped back into place on the field.

He paused, looking to the media-relations folks for guidance, before answering, "Um, can I, can I …? It went back in, yeah, it went back in (Mitch and everyone in the room laughs). It's a weird feeling, it's not good. Yeah."

Unlike a few weeks ago, when it appeared Trubisky was asking permission to speak, this time he was clearly seeking clarification of what players are allowed to share about sideline team medical practices, and he turned another potentially embarrassing moment into a relaxed and entertaining quip.

Trubisky also was comfortable making a minor contradiction of head coach Matt Nagy when he was asked if it's true there are advantages to the young quarterback being able to watch from the sidelines, saying, "Yeah it helps, but not really that much.

"(Mitch laughs) It's a lot better playing. It helps playing. So you try to make a positive out of a negative … by saying it helps being on the sidelines and supporting your guys, but I really think the best experience is obviously getting out there and getting the reps."

As for Trubisky's potential return Sunday - while nothing is official and most likely won't be before Friday at the earliest - both Nagy and the young QB were relatively open and comfortable talking about how close it appears to be to happening.

Nagy echoed earlier comments about it mostly coming down to pain tolerance.

"It's obviously pain," the coach said, "and then you listen to what the doctors are saying, what the trainers are saying, what he's saying.

"But if Mitch is able to play and able to go out there and play, then that means to me that physically he's passed. He can play."

I asked Trubisky about what seemed to me to be the most limiting factor for him if he is going to play with pain: Does it hurt every time you throw the ball even though it's your non-throwing shoulder?

He again paused before responding, "Um, that's a good question.

"Obviously I haven't gotten hit since then and there always is some pain tolerance involved, I mean this is football. So you've just got to figure out throughout the course of the week, I guess.

While that obviously wasn't an answer to the question, I got no sense Trubisky was trying to dodge it, so I asked again: OK, but does it hurt each time you throw the football?

"It's pretty good when I'm throwing," he answered.

My playing amateur psychologist is no way to accurately analyze where a player's at, but a lot of this job is exactly that, listening and comparing what you hear to what you've heard before.

Having covered almost every news conference Trubisky has done since arriving in Chicago, I can tell you what I saw Wednesday really felt like a more relaxed and, more important, more confident quarterback.

Whether that's real or translates to the field remains to be seen.

• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.

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