When GM Ryan Pace drafted Mitch Trubisky 2nd overall in 2017, he genuinely felt he was getting his own version of Drew Brees. A sharp, talented and tireless hard worker who had a ridiculous competitive streak that would carry him through any hardships. Anybody who hears such a thing now would roll their eyes at such an idea. Compare this Chicago Bears quarterback to a legend like Brees? Ridiculous.
Head coach Matt Nagy though even used the New Orleans Saints icon as a comparison when the season began. As it became clear Trubisky was struggling in his second year of the new offensive system, he pointed out something people tend to forget. The same exact thing happened to Brees under Sean Payton back in 2007. He wasn't just bad. He was completely awful through the first month of that season.
‘‘With that said, every scenario is different for every quarterback. There are some soon-to-be Hall of Fame quarterbacks — one, in particular — that [in] Year 2 with a particular coach, after four games, had one touchdown, nine interceptions, a [57.4] rating and a [63] percent completion percentage. And he is now about to be an instant Hall of Fame quarterback.’’
It seemed like a bit of reach at the time, so I decided to go back and look at the numbers again. I went from when each quarterback started under their respective head coach through to the first 13 games of the second season. The results were actually quite educational.
Mitch Trubisky is following the Brees line quite close
It turns out that the separation between the two players isn't quite the Grand Canyon people would have you think. In fact they're a lot closer than even I expected.
Drew Brees (2006-2007)
- 708 completions
- 1074 attempts
- 65.92 completion percentage
- 7922 yards
- 49 touchdowns
- 26 interceptions
- 92.9 passer rating
Mitch Trubisky (2018-present)
- 542 completions
- 826 attempts
- 65.62 completion percentage
- 5663 yards
- 40 touchdowns
- 20 interceptions
- 91.4 passer rating
If one were to factor in Trubisky's running production, he'd have over 6,000 yards and 45 touchdowns, putting him even closer to Brees than this list shows. It's also important to mention that the Bears quarterback missed three games with shoulder injuries. This paints a clear enough picture that maybe it was a bit premature to declare Trubisky a lost cause. People certainly didn't do that with Brees back in 2007.
This might explain why Pace and Nagy have remained patient with the 25-year old. They know this process is a marathon, not a sprint. If they want to reach the level Brees eventually did with Mitch? They have to be patient and let him figure it out.
