FanPost

Trubisky Belongs in the Pocket on Opening Day

Jordan Howard and a good offensive line won’t let Trubisky get bludgeoned the way Archie Manning got bludgeoned.

Mr Boffo Gifted

In my youth I watched Archie Manning get chewed up and spit out on Sundays because the New Orleans Saints drafted him but then added very few good players to surround him. The eldest Manning probably stands as the worst case of a team wasting quarterback talent. After the Houston Texans drafted David Carr I sometimes wondered if Carr was the second coming of Archie Manning, talented but beaten into submission by NFL defenses. David Carr may have not been as talented as the Texans originally thought, or he may have potentially great but suffered the NFL version of PTSD.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jimmy Johnson let Troy Aikman get destroyed as a young quarterback, but then both the Cowboys as a team and Aikman as quarterback survived that 1 and 15 season and soared to greatness. Peyton Manning went through a similar rough start to his career. Early first round quarterbacks almost always get drafted by bad teams, so get put in the position of serving as crash test dummies. How long does it take for a character-building career start turn into a career-killing mistake?

I think about that as I watch Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears. While I believe that Mike Glennon could turn into a solid NFL starter with enough experience and the right coaching, Glennon’s upside is nowhere close to Trubisky’s. It’s harsh to say, but if the Bears had a terrible offensive line, I would recommend using Glennon as the crash test dummy until both the line and Trubisky improved. The fact is, the Bears’ offensive line is pretty damn good, probably the best one they’ve had in two decades. They also have their best running game in two decades as well. What do the Bears or Trubisky gain by sitting him on the bench even if it’s only for four games or eight games?

No matter when he starts starting, Trubisky will need time to develop the grace under pressure all great quarterbacks have. On the plus side, the rookie seems closer to achieving that grace than any other quarterback the Bears ever had in my lifetime with the single exception of Jim McMahon. McMahon possessed more grace under pressure than actual, physical talent. McMahon could see the field as well as any quarterback in the NFL, but he lacked the kind of arm that Elway, Marino, or Montana had. Trubisky apparently possesses Montana-esque accuracy, and, hopefully a similar level of field vision. Although the early returns are impressive, we won’t know how Trubisky handles pressure until he handles pressure.

If there’s a right time to test Trubisky, it’s right now, when he has the chance to stand behind a good offensive line, and hand off to one of the best running backs in the game. He won’t be Archie Manning or David Carr, a young quarterback facing a down-after-down jailbreak from the defenses he plays against. The Bears should start him now and say "If you see it, throw it, if you don’t see it, throw it away." Yes, Trubisky will get sacked a few times, but he won’t take the beating that A. Manning or David Carr took, especially since the opponents have to pay attention to Jordan Howard. Rather than seeing this as the wrong time to throw Trubisky into the fire, the Bears should see this as an almost ideal situation for a young quarterback to learn his trade.

If the Bears start Trubisky immediately, then maybe the Chicago offense will throw ten more interceptions than would have happened otherwise. Then again, after watching Glennon, the final number of interceptions thrown might not change that much. It would be better to let Trubisky throw a number of passes away than to let the team throw away an ideal chance to develop the man they think can lead them for the next decade.

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.