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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-mitch-trubisky-bears-chicago-hope-spt-0521-20170519-story.html
Dan Wiederer
18-23 minutes
Admittedly, it was a small task. But in the pre-draft process, every minute detail counts. So on March 16, Bears general manager Ryan Pace found himself curious to see how Mitch Trubisky would handle a routine assignment.
A quintet of key Bears talent evaluators was headed to Chapel Hill, N.C., to visit Trubisky, the promising University of North Carolina quarterback. On the docket was a Friday morning workout to assess Trubisky's arm strength, athleticism and poise in person. But first, a traveling party that included Pace, coach John Fox, director of player personnel Josh Lucas, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone requested dinner.
As Pace does with all such get-to-know-you dinners, he asked Trubisky to pick the restaurant and make the reservation. It's a minor request. But it often can be revealing of a player's reliability.
Pace also ordered Trubisky to keep the meeting top secret, so as not to tip off anyone — not any Tar Heels coaches or teammates, not any other NFL execs or agents, not even a campus meter maid — to the Bears' interest.
Trubisky took the directive and pieced things together.
Before Pace and his cohorts arrived on campus, the Bears GM had a text. Dinner at 7 p.m.
The venue: Bin 54, a top steakhouse in North Carolina's Triangle region. And to keep the gathering covert, Trubisky made the reservation for six under an alias: James McMahon.
"I thought that was cool," Pace says.
All of Trubisky's visitors from Chicago appreciated that touch. They took it as evidence of all they had been told about the 22-year-old quarterback never taking himself too seriously yet always focusing on the details.
"That told me he was prepared, that he did his homework," Loggains says. "You knew this moment wasn't too big for him. He still was having fun with it."
The Bears were too.
It's very much worth noting that their dinner-and-workout connection with Trubisky came during a critical four-day, three-stop quarterback mission that sandwiched the Chapel Hill stopover between trips to Clemson, S.C., and Lubbock, Texas, to size up Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes, respectively.
Talk about a pivotal road trip.
To be clear, the attraction to Trubisky as the potential savior to tug the franchise out of the quicksand of NFL mediocrity had started long before mid-March. For months, Pace had been convinced that Trubisky was the top quarterback in the draft. But for the longest time, he kept his evaluation to himself, not wanting to influence the assessments of his subordinates. Then, as the reports came trickling in — from area scout Chris Prescott, from national scout Ryan Kessenich, from college scouting director Mark Sadowski, from Lucas, from Loggains — the consensus energized Pace.
Still, over a 20-hour period during that field trip to Tobacco Road, the Bears put the finishing touches on their evaluation. For Pace, it was the culmination of what he admits had become a 10-month obsession with altering the Bears' frustrating quarterback history.
"The most important position in all of sports," Pace says. "And I don't think you're ever a great team until you address the position and you address it right."
Good first impression
The off-campus dinner with Trubisky went exactly as the Bears hoped. Upon arrival, the McMahon party was ushered to Bin 54's secluded Wine Cellar for privacy, another Trubisky touch the Bears appreciated.
For more than two hours, with steaks all around and a couple of bottles of red wine open, the Bears probed to see if Trubisky's personality would mesh.
Pace wanted to gain a better sense for what made Trubisky tick. He listened to the young quarterback describe his upbringing in Mentor, Ohio, and his deep bond with his parents and three siblings. As the Bears GM made mental notes, that supportive, sturdy family dynamic resonated.
It had been a buoy for Trubisky throughout 2014 and 2015 when he was anchored in a backup role behind entrenched starter Marquise Williams. Through two seasons during which he saw the field only for emergency work or mop-up duty, Trubisky vacillated between frustrated and discouraged and ultra-motivated.
Through it all, his family kept him focused on his goals rather than his self-pity.
"Really," Trubisky says, "I would turn to myself, look at myself in the mirror and continue to believe in my dream."
Pace appreciated how Trubisky's natural confidence emanated. With NFL adversity inevitable, Pace also knew it was important that Trubisky had reliable outlets to steady him during the turbulence.
"And the way he was raised," Pace says, "he's not full of himself. He's more about his team and sharing the glory."
...
Dan Wiederer
18-23 minutes
Admittedly, it was a small task. But in the pre-draft process, every minute detail counts. So on March 16, Bears general manager Ryan Pace found himself curious to see how Mitch Trubisky would handle a routine assignment.
A quintet of key Bears talent evaluators was headed to Chapel Hill, N.C., to visit Trubisky, the promising University of North Carolina quarterback. On the docket was a Friday morning workout to assess Trubisky's arm strength, athleticism and poise in person. But first, a traveling party that included Pace, coach John Fox, director of player personnel Josh Lucas, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone requested dinner.
As Pace does with all such get-to-know-you dinners, he asked Trubisky to pick the restaurant and make the reservation. It's a minor request. But it often can be revealing of a player's reliability.
Pace also ordered Trubisky to keep the meeting top secret, so as not to tip off anyone — not any Tar Heels coaches or teammates, not any other NFL execs or agents, not even a campus meter maid — to the Bears' interest.
Trubisky took the directive and pieced things together.
Before Pace and his cohorts arrived on campus, the Bears GM had a text. Dinner at 7 p.m.
The venue: Bin 54, a top steakhouse in North Carolina's Triangle region. And to keep the gathering covert, Trubisky made the reservation for six under an alias: James McMahon.
"I thought that was cool," Pace says.
All of Trubisky's visitors from Chicago appreciated that touch. They took it as evidence of all they had been told about the 22-year-old quarterback never taking himself too seriously yet always focusing on the details.
"That told me he was prepared, that he did his homework," Loggains says. "You knew this moment wasn't too big for him. He still was having fun with it."
The Bears were too.
It's very much worth noting that their dinner-and-workout connection with Trubisky came during a critical four-day, three-stop quarterback mission that sandwiched the Chapel Hill stopover between trips to Clemson, S.C., and Lubbock, Texas, to size up Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes, respectively.
Talk about a pivotal road trip.
To be clear, the attraction to Trubisky as the potential savior to tug the franchise out of the quicksand of NFL mediocrity had started long before mid-March. For months, Pace had been convinced that Trubisky was the top quarterback in the draft. But for the longest time, he kept his evaluation to himself, not wanting to influence the assessments of his subordinates. Then, as the reports came trickling in — from area scout Chris Prescott, from national scout Ryan Kessenich, from college scouting director Mark Sadowski, from Lucas, from Loggains — the consensus energized Pace.
Still, over a 20-hour period during that field trip to Tobacco Road, the Bears put the finishing touches on their evaluation. For Pace, it was the culmination of what he admits had become a 10-month obsession with altering the Bears' frustrating quarterback history.
"The most important position in all of sports," Pace says. "And I don't think you're ever a great team until you address the position and you address it right."
Good first impression
The off-campus dinner with Trubisky went exactly as the Bears hoped. Upon arrival, the McMahon party was ushered to Bin 54's secluded Wine Cellar for privacy, another Trubisky touch the Bears appreciated.
For more than two hours, with steaks all around and a couple of bottles of red wine open, the Bears probed to see if Trubisky's personality would mesh.
Pace wanted to gain a better sense for what made Trubisky tick. He listened to the young quarterback describe his upbringing in Mentor, Ohio, and his deep bond with his parents and three siblings. As the Bears GM made mental notes, that supportive, sturdy family dynamic resonated.
It had been a buoy for Trubisky throughout 2014 and 2015 when he was anchored in a backup role behind entrenched starter Marquise Williams. Through two seasons during which he saw the field only for emergency work or mop-up duty, Trubisky vacillated between frustrated and discouraged and ultra-motivated.
Through it all, his family kept him focused on his goals rather than his self-pity.
"Really," Trubisky says, "I would turn to myself, look at myself in the mirror and continue to believe in my dream."
Pace appreciated how Trubisky's natural confidence emanated. With NFL adversity inevitable, Pace also knew it was important that Trubisky had reliable outlets to steady him during the turbulence.
"And the way he was raised," Pace says, "he's not full of himself. He's more about his team and sharing the glory."
...
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