WEEK 3 RE-WATCH: A Battle of Teams With Great D and Bad O; CHI Turned the Ball Over Less for the Boring W

Outlaw Josey Cutler

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Good morning!

Caveat on the title: I will take a boring W ANY day over an exciting L. And the defense was NOT boring at all. That adjective was solely used for the lethargic, paralyzed offense that had no answer for ARIZ blitzing in what yet again should have been a much more convincing win.

Also before I begin I want to say my schedule has been whacky this week. But it has settled and I will be posting these every Monday from now on as I enjoy re-watching these on weekends. So, this coming Monday will be: WEEK 4 (fuck yeah)

FIRST QUARTER SUMMARY:

Normal print is quick reminder of basic things that anyone can see as they watch. ARZ gets first drive and scores a TD. The TD pass to Seals-Jones was busted coverage. He was wide open with no Bear within a mile of him. The coaches' film doesn't reveal any blame to me. CHI's first drive was what we have come to expect after two great weeks of opening drives. Methodical, multi play clock-killing drive into the RZ and it's 3rd down. ARZ shows two blitzers off the edge and Mitch does nothing, no line shift, no signal to hot read (or fake signal away from hot read), no audible, nothing. He eats the sack and Parkey misses the FG. Next drive on 3rd down, ARZ shows blitz again and Mitch tries to twist up and away but gets the ball stripped for the sack fumble. And Bradford throws the second TD pass. On the second TD pass from Bradford, it was a corner route that was wide open and appears to be a bad call by Fangio. It looked like the type of coverage called for protecting deep and giving the big chunk underneath and out-of-bounds but that wide open space was right in front of the endzone. Again, I am unsure if it was a bad call by Fangio or miscommunication but it was weird to see from this otherwise great D.

14-0 ARZ over CHI and Bradford's passer rating is elite benefitting from some mistakes in the Bears' D. The Bears offense looks like they are fully aware of the extra blitzers ARZ is sending on 3rd down but just like last week vs. SEA have zero answer to do anything with it.

SECOND QUARTER SUMMARY:

This quarter is practically great D vs. bad O from both teams. It is not just great defenses slugging it out but big missed opportunities on the offense that makes these games so boring to me. I like watching great defense and CHI is a great defense fun to watch. ARZ played great defense as well. Two things to note particularly here:

1) Mitch's first half completion percentage was actually pretty good. He was 11-15 at one point but the yard totals were low. On first and second down, ARZ was giving him the short underneath completions and were tackling exceptionally well allowing zero RAC. It became very clear early that counting on short throws and RAC was not going to do it this day.

2) Jordan Howard had some decent runs and Nagy balanced run and pass calls early very well with good results. But his YPC this day would be shit due to Nagy calling pitches where he would get stuffed. On one play in particular, the play call was a end-around where Bellamy was sweeping in to the QB in gun formation with Howard and Budda Baker was up on the line in the middle showing blitz. Trubisky gets the ball and hands off to Howard who gets the ball and gets hammered by Baker as a reward while Bellamy is off running to the other side faking like he has the ball to no one in open space. Howard gets the -5 yards but that was all Mitch and his cluelessness about blitzing Cardinals. That is just a microcosm of Trubisky's inability to handle blitzes all day long here and by now it is 3 weeks in a row to open the season.

At the half it is 14-3 ARZ over CHI. The Cardinals have to be cautiously optimistic. They have scored points (!) something they have struggled to do in the first two weeks at all. The Bears D has re-asserted itself in the second quarter, and ARZ has tried to get a running game going but cannot. They absolutely cannot afford to go deeper than a 3-step drop and even then Hicks and Mack are tearing through their lines far too quickly. The Bears offense had two good drives but stalled due to obvious and unaccounted-for pressure leading to one missed FG and one FG. Nagy obviously needs to address the 3rd down aggressive blitzing that is killing drives.


SECOND HALF SUMMARY:

I am not going to even lie. This game is brutal to re-watch. If this isn't the worst, it has to be top 2. Here is what redeems this game for the re-watch factor: the Bears defense.

4 possessions for ARZ in the second half and 4 TOs. Now the first one I do not credit CHI but blame Bradford. Eddie Jackson was playing centerfield and when the ARZ receiver got behind the Bears CB up top, Bradford foolishly thought he could beat Jackson for the deep completion. The distance and range Jackson needed for the INT was not eye-popping. Any average NFL safety makes that play (and Jackson is far better than average particularly at being where the ball is going to be).

The Bears would win the second half 13-0 but the offense deserves very little credit for it. The ARZ offense was putrid and turning it over at every point they could. The ARZ defense was exhausted. Rosen's 4th quarter appearance was ill-advised to say the least as the O-line was doing him no more favors that it did for Bradford. I guess Howard's TD run was a nice show of power by running over his tackler and punching in for the 6 points. I will give him that at least.

I remember the conversation here on CCS at this point. If Trubisky is going to do NOTHING when the defense shows extra blitzers and keep snapping and trying to beat the pressure by rushing the play (ending in sacks, fumbles and INTs all in first half vs. ARZ by the way) ,

we will be wasting this elite D on what could be a playoff run. 2-1 never felt so concerning before.
That hard and contentious period of discussion here was fully warranted in my view.
 

Outlaw Josey Cutler

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I remember it being a question of if Mitch can handle basic blitz beating at all. Thankfully that ends up not being true.
 

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1st 4 weeks had Mitch still in in experienced rookie mode.
 

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Good morning!

Caveat on the title: I will take a boring W ANY day over an exciting L. And the defense was NOT boring at all. That adjective was solely used for the lethargic, paralyzed offense that had no answer for ARIZ blitzing in what yet again should have been a much more convincing win.

Also before I begin I want to say my schedule has been whacky this week. But it has settled and I will be posting these every Monday from now on as I enjoy re-watching these on weekends. So, this coming Monday will be: WEEK 4 (fuck yeah)

FIRST QUARTER SUMMARY:

Normal print is quick reminder of basic things that anyone can see as they watch. ARZ gets first drive and scores a TD. The TD pass to Seals-Jones was busted coverage. He was wide open with no Bear within a mile of him. The coaches' film doesn't reveal any blame to me. CHI's first drive was what we have come to expect after two great weeks of opening drives. Methodical, multi play clock-killing drive into the RZ and it's 3rd down. ARZ shows two blitzers off the edge and Mitch does nothing, no line shift, no signal to hot read (or fake signal away from hot read), no audible, nothing. He eats the sack and Parkey misses the FG. Next drive on 3rd down, ARZ shows blitz again and Mitch tries to twist up and away but gets the ball stripped for the sack fumble. And Bradford throws the second TD pass. On the second TD pass from Bradford, it was a corner route that was wide open and appears to be a bad call by Fangio. It looked like the type of coverage called for protecting deep and giving the big chunk underneath and out-of-bounds but that wide open space was right in front of the endzone. Again, I am unsure if it was a bad call by Fangio or miscommunication but it was weird to see from this otherwise great D.

14-0 ARZ over CHI and Bradford's passer rating is elite benefitting from some mistakes in the Bears' D. The Bears offense looks like they are fully aware of the extra blitzers ARZ is sending on 3rd down but just like last week vs. SEA have zero answer to do anything with it.


SECOND QUARTER SUMMARY:

This quarter is practically great D vs. bad O from both teams. It is not just great defenses slugging it out but big missed opportunities on the offense that makes these games so boring to me. I like watching great defense and CHI is a great defense fun to watch. ARZ played great defense as well. Two things to note particularly here:

1) Mitch's first half completion percentage was actually pretty good. He was 11-15 at one point but the yard totals were low. On first and second down, ARZ was giving him the short underneath completions and were tackling exceptionally well allowing zero RAC. It became very clear early that counting on short throws and RAC was not going to do it this day.

2) Jordan Howard had some decent runs and Nagy balanced run and pass calls early very well with good results. But his YPC this day would be shit due to Nagy calling pitches where he would get stuffed. On one play in particular, the play call was a end-around where Bellamy was sweeping in to the QB in gun formation with Howard and Budda Baker was up on the line in the middle showing blitz. Trubisky gets the ball and hands off to Howard who gets the ball and gets hammered by Baker as a reward while Bellamy is off running to the other side faking like he has the ball to no one in open space. Howard gets the -5 yards but that was all Mitch and his cluelessness about blitzing Cardinals. That is just a microcosm of Trubisky's inability to handle blitzes all day long here and by now it is 3 weeks in a row to open the season.

At the half it is 14-3 ARZ over CHI. The Cardinals have to be cautiously optimistic. They have scored points (!) something they have struggled to do in the first two weeks at all. The Bears D has re-asserted itself in the second quarter, and ARZ has tried to get a running game going but cannot. They absolutely cannot afford to go deeper than a 3-step drop and even then Hicks and Mack are tearing through their lines far too quickly. The Bears offense had two good drives but stalled due to obvious and unaccounted-for pressure leading to one missed FG and one FG. Nagy obviously needs to address the 3rd down aggressive blitzing that is killing drives.


SECOND HALF SUMMARY:

I am not going to even lie. This game is brutal to re-watch. If this isn't the worst, it has to be top 2. Here is what redeems this game for the re-watch factor: the Bears defense.

4 possessions for ARZ in the second half and 4 TOs. Now the first one I do not credit CHI but blame Bradford. Eddie Jackson was playing centerfield and when the ARZ receiver got behind the Bears CB up top, Bradford foolishly thought he could beat Jackson for the deep completion. The distance and range Jackson needed for the INT was not eye-popping. Any average NFL safety makes that play (and Jackson is far better than average particularly at being where the ball is going to be).

The Bears would win the second half 13-0 but the offense deserves very little credit for it. The ARZ offense was putrid and turning it over at every point they could. The ARZ defense was exhausted. Rosen's 4th quarter appearance was ill-advised to say the least as the O-line was doing him no more favors that it did for Bradford. I guess Howard's TD run was a nice show of power by running over his tackler and punching in for the 6 points. I will give him that at least.

I remember the conversation here on CCS at this point. If Trubisky is going to do NOTHING when the defense shows extra blitzers and keep snapping and trying to beat the pressure by rushing the play (ending in sacks, fumbles and INTs all in first half vs. ARZ by the way) ,

we will be wasting this elite D on what could be a playoff run. 2-1 never felt so concerning before.
That hard and contentious period of discussion here was fully warranted in my view.

I was at this game. Say what you will about Mitch but the defense put the team in a huge hole in an away game. There were two blown coverages that resulted in easy pitch and catch TDs. That provides significant momentum no matter how talented a team may be.

Also, anyone that didn’t expect Trubisky to struggle early or possibly the whole season is being unrealistic. It was his second year and his second offense. He had to scrub everything he learned and start from scratch. He was doing that with teammates (on the field) that were also learning the offense except for Burton. Things happen brutally quick in the NFL. If a QB is reacting and not comfortable enough to anticipate you end up with performances Trubisky had periodically throughout the year. I think Trubisky is going to be one of the most improved players in the league this year. Comfort in the system and confidence will help clean up many of the issues he had last season.
Quite frankly with all things considered, he was pretty damn good last year but that doesn’t “play” well around here.
 

Visionman

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I was at this game. Say what you will about Mitch but the defense put the team in a huge hole in an away game. There were two blown coverages that resulted in easy pitch and catch TDs. That provides significant momentum no matter how talented a team may be.

Also, anyone that didn’t expect Trubisky to struggle early or possibly the whole season is being unrealistic. It was his second year and his second offense. He had to scrub everything he learned and start from scratch. He was doing that with teammates (on the field) that were also learning the offense except for Burton. Things happen brutally quick in the NFL. If a QB is reacting and not comfortable enough to anticipate you end up with performances Trubisky had periodically throughout the year. I think Trubisky is going to be one of the most improved players in the league this year. Comfort in the system and confidence will help clean up many of the issues he had last season.
Quite frankly with all things considered, he was pretty damn good last year but that doesn’t “play” well around here.
Are you arguing against yourself here???
 

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After this game I was definitely calling for Trubisky to sit and learn behind Chase for awhile. I thought Trubs was going to kill any chance we had at a playoff push learning on the job, and assumed Daniel would bring needed consistency to the offense for awhile.

Was wrong on both accounts.
 

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After this game I was definitely calling for Trubisky to sit and learn behind Chase for awhile. I thought Trubs was going to kill any chance we had at a playoff push learning on the job, and assumed Daniel would bring needed consistency to the offense for awhile.

Was wrong on both accounts.

You weren't the only one. A few people were starting to think that. It was certainly a reasonable thought.

He was getting better every game, it just was not showing up in the stat column necessarily.
 

playthrough2001

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You weren't the only one. A few people were starting to think that. It was certainly a reasonable thought.

He was getting better every game, it just was not showing up in the stat column necessarily.

It really wasn’t a reasonable thought. Sending Mitch to the bench for Chase Daniel would have been an awful, idiotic overreaction. Thank god fans don’t make these decisions.
 

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It wouldn’t have been the right call at the time, but it is not out of the realm of logical thought.

A logical person would not advocate for a rag armed journeyman to start over the projected franchise QB because he struggled early in a new system.

When Brees struggled mightily they had Flutie behind him and in his second go in the NFL he was pretty decent. I watched Brees get pulled for Flutie at Soldier Field and I thought that was a terrible call by San Diego.

Bradshaw really developed slowly but getting ping ponged to the bench for Terry Hanratty and Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam didn’t really help.

I doubt Nagy ever considered Daniel until Harrison Smith forced his hand.
 

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Team game and not about the individual players. Nagy had a plan and was going to run with Mitch but us fans had no idea if Trubs was getting it or not. We saw improvement by game here but it was subtle at best. I thought we should stick with him longer but that could have easily been the wrong call. I also doubt Nagy considered sitting Mitch but he had a lot more info than we did.
 

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A logical person would not advocate for a rag armed journeyman to start over the projected franchise QB because he struggled early in a new system.

When Brees struggled mightily they had Flutie behind him and in his second go in the NFL he was pretty decent. I watched Brees get pulled for Flutie at Soldier Field and I thought that was a terrible call by San Diego.

Bradshaw really developed slowly but getting ping ponged to the bench for Terry Hanratty and Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam didn’t really help.

I doubt Nagy ever considered Daniel until Harrison Smith forced his hand.


Daniel is well respected throughout the league. The Bears defense was playing very well. Every season is valuable.

It was a reasonable thought to view Mitch as struggling. He was to some extent. Obviously fans do not have the inside info enough to make completely educated judgments, but from a fans position it is perfectly reasonable to think that Mitch may not be ready for the offense. And with the way the Bears defense was performing, how well Daniel was respected, a reasonable fan could have logically thought Trubisky sitting a bit longer may not be a bad thing.

Again, this is a coming from a fan's perspective.

The exact opposite could be true as well. A reasonable argument to keep Trubisky in could be made.

From a fan's perspective there may not be a 100% clear cut answer. Fan's aren't privy to all the info.
 

Outlaw Josey Cutler

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I was at this game. Say what you will about Mitch but the defense put the team in a huge hole in an away game. There were two blown coverages that resulted in easy pitch and catch TDs. That provides significant momentum no matter how talented a team may be.

Also, anyone that didn’t expect Trubisky to struggle early or possibly the whole season is being unrealistic. It was his second year and his second offense. He had to scrub everything he learned and start from scratch. He was doing that with teammates (on the field) that were also learning the offense except for Burton. Things happen brutally quick in the NFL. If a QB is reacting and not comfortable enough to anticipate you end up with performances Trubisky had periodically throughout the year. I think Trubisky is going to be one of the most improved players in the league this year. Comfort in the system and confidence will help clean up many of the issues he had last season.
Quite frankly with all things considered, he was pretty damn good last year but that doesn’t “play” well around here.

What? You were there? Ok ...I am not sure what authority that grants you more than anyone else who can also watch it.

I watched it and I will tell you the defense had massive mistakes early but fixed it and demolished the Cardinals 3 out of 4 quarters (the 1st notwithstanding). Defense let him down? Defense won the fricking game.

If it was not for great plays, pressure, forcing INTs then any average offense could have merely picked up enough first downs and eaten clock to win ugly.

Trubisky was trash the first 3 weeks. For 9 drives, he had "scripts" ie what announcers call the plays Nagy designs that Mitch can do well because his first read is open and he knows the timing and where to go beforehand.

That is 9 drives out of 43 offensive possessions in the first 3 weeks where Mitch did not completely suck. All Bears offensive scores came in these drives but not all of these led to scores. The scoring was drying up by Week 3 due to the fact that DCs were onto the fact that a blitz will stop Trubisky cold because he had no checks or audibles and he was not progressing through reads yet at all. His awareness of blitzers and where he should attack pre-snap seemed utterly clueless.

"Play well around here"? Calling him trash in the first 3 weeks did not "play" well around here. It was dark times.

Now as to the whole year, if I remember right, he played like garbage first 3 weeks, tore it up in a few games over the next quarter season with some pedestrian efforts in-between and then after the injury and his Rams game,

he then settled into a decent run of solid play for 3 games in a row clinching the NFC North in there and bouncing the Vikings.

If that translates to a "pretty damn good year" for you, that's cool. I saw it as squarely 20's in QB ranking with obvious potential for better after a full year in this system.
 

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I do not think you can really argue that Trubisky was not bad the first 3 weeks.

He reminded me of my 5 year old trying to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time. Lots of bad and even the good moments where he gets moving end with him falling on his ass.

Trubisky was bad early in the year. He looked uncomfortable, which was to be expected.
 

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It didn’t seem like Nagy was letting Trubisky do much to change things up at the line yet.

Trubisky was just trying to execute the offense which was arguably ‘too much’ for him at that point. Asking him to execute the offense while also reading the defense was an impossible task.

I expect that it where trubisky will take strides next year.
 

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I do not think you can really argue that Trubisky was not bad the first 3 weeks.

He reminded me of my 5 year old trying to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time. Lots of bad and even the good moments where he gets moving end with him falling on his ass.

Trubisky was bad early in the year. He looked uncomfortable, which was to be expected.

There is no question in my mind that other QBs' quicker progressions into the NFL affected expectations. Whether one thinks it is right or wrong to do so for last year, everyone expects comfort, command, and excellent QB play from him this year and I think that is a justified expectation.
 

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Good morning!

Caveat on the title: I will take a boring W ANY day over an exciting L. And the defense was NOT boring at all. That adjective was solely used for the lethargic, paralyzed offense that had no answer for ARIZ blitzing in what yet again should have been a much more convincing win.

Also before I begin I want to say my schedule has been whacky this week. But it has settled and I will be posting these every Monday from now on as I enjoy re-watching these on weekends. So, this coming Monday will be: WEEK 4 (fuck yeah)

FIRST QUARTER SUMMARY:

Normal print is quick reminder of basic things that anyone can see as they watch. ARZ gets first drive and scores a TD. The TD pass to Seals-Jones was busted coverage. He was wide open with no Bear within a mile of him. The coaches' film doesn't reveal any blame to me. CHI's first drive was what we have come to expect after two great weeks of opening drives. Methodical, multi play clock-killing drive into the RZ and it's 3rd down. ARZ shows two blitzers off the edge and Mitch does nothing, no line shift, no signal to hot read (or fake signal away from hot read), no audible, nothing. He eats the sack and Parkey misses the FG. Next drive on 3rd down, ARZ shows blitz again and Mitch tries to twist up and away but gets the ball stripped for the sack fumble. And Bradford throws the second TD pass. On the second TD pass from Bradford, it was a corner route that was wide open and appears to be a bad call by Fangio. It looked like the type of coverage called for protecting deep and giving the big chunk underneath and out-of-bounds but that wide open space was right in front of the endzone. Again, I am unsure if it was a bad call by Fangio or miscommunication but it was weird to see from this otherwise great D.

14-0 ARZ over CHI and Bradford's passer rating is elite benefitting from some mistakes in the Bears' D. The Bears offense looks like they are fully aware of the extra blitzers ARZ is sending on 3rd down but just like last week vs. SEA have zero answer to do anything with it.


SECOND QUARTER SUMMARY:

This quarter is practically great D vs. bad O from both teams. It is not just great defenses slugging it out but big missed opportunities on the offense that makes these games so boring to me. I like watching great defense and CHI is a great defense fun to watch. ARZ played great defense as well. Two things to note particularly here:

1) Mitch's first half completion percentage was actually pretty good. He was 11-15 at one point but the yard totals were low. On first and second down, ARZ was giving him the short underneath completions and were tackling exceptionally well allowing zero RAC. It became very clear early that counting on short throws and RAC was not going to do it this day.

2) Jordan Howard had some decent runs and Nagy balanced run and pass calls early very well with good results. But his YPC this day would be shit due to Nagy calling pitches where he would get stuffed. On one play in particular, the play call was a end-around where Bellamy was sweeping in to the QB in gun formation with Howard and Budda Baker was up on the line in the middle showing blitz. Trubisky gets the ball and hands off to Howard who gets the ball and gets hammered by Baker as a reward while Bellamy is off running to the other side faking like he has the ball to no one in open space. Howard gets the -5 yards but that was all Mitch and his cluelessness about blitzing Cardinals. That is just a microcosm of Trubisky's inability to handle blitzes all day long here and by now it is 3 weeks in a row to open the season.

At the half it is 14-3 ARZ over CHI. The Cardinals have to be cautiously optimistic. They have scored points (!) something they have struggled to do in the first two weeks at all. The Bears D has re-asserted itself in the second quarter, and ARZ has tried to get a running game going but cannot. They absolutely cannot afford to go deeper than a 3-step drop and even then Hicks and Mack are tearing through their lines far too quickly. The Bears offense had two good drives but stalled due to obvious and unaccounted-for pressure leading to one missed FG and one FG. Nagy obviously needs to address the 3rd down aggressive blitzing that is killing drives.


SECOND HALF SUMMARY:

I am not going to even lie. This game is brutal to re-watch. If this isn't the worst, it has to be top 2. Here is what redeems this game for the re-watch factor: the Bears defense.

4 possessions for ARZ in the second half and 4 TOs. Now the first one I do not credit CHI but blame Bradford. Eddie Jackson was playing centerfield and when the ARZ receiver got behind the Bears CB up top, Bradford foolishly thought he could beat Jackson for the deep completion. The distance and range Jackson needed for the INT was not eye-popping. Any average NFL safety makes that play (and Jackson is far better than average particularly at being where the ball is going to be).

The Bears would win the second half 13-0 but the offense deserves very little credit for it. The ARZ offense was putrid and turning it over at every point they could. The ARZ defense was exhausted. Rosen's 4th quarter appearance was ill-advised to say the least as the O-line was doing him no more favors that it did for Bradford. I guess Howard's TD run was a nice show of power by running over his tackler and punching in for the 6 points. I will give him that at least.

I remember the conversation here on CCS at this point. If Trubisky is going to do NOTHING when the defense shows extra blitzers and keep snapping and trying to beat the pressure by rushing the play (ending in sacks, fumbles and INTs all in first half vs. ARZ by the way) ,

we will be wasting this elite D on what could be a playoff run. 2-1 never felt so concerning before.
That hard and contentious period of discussion here was fully warranted in my view.
Thanks for giving us this rundown. It is a good read in the off season.

Damn the first three weeks of offense were even more brutal than I remember. If I do remember right over the next three weeks the offense seemed to settle in a bit more and play better ball even though we lost two of those games.
 

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Daniel is well respected throughout the league. The Bears defense was playing very well. Every season is valuable.

It was a reasonable thought to view Mitch as struggling. He was to some extent. Obviously fans do not have the inside info enough to make completely educated judgments, but from a fans position it is perfectly reasonable to think that Mitch may not be ready for the offense. And with the way the Bears defense was performing, how well Daniel was respected, a reasonable fan could have logically thought Trubisky sitting a bit longer may not be a bad thing.

Again, this is a coming from a fan's perspective.

The exact opposite could be true as well. A reasonable argument to keep Trubisky in could be made.

From a fan's perspective there may not be a 100% clear cut answer. Fan's aren't privy to all the info.

He's not well respected for his ability to actually play. The guy is a pro and he's like having another coach around. He's barely done anything on the field.
 

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