People are scrambling for reasons why Mitch Trubisky has suddenly gone from a Pro Bowl alternate who looked like a budding stud in the playoffs last year to a kid who looks like he's fresh out of college again. It's really a remarkable decline the Chicago Bears quarterback has been on over the past few months. Expectations were sky high coming into 2019. He was in his third year, the second year of Matt Nagy's offensive system. He had a solid offensive line and an array of young and athletic weapons around him.
Rather than take another step forward or even tread water from last year, he's fallen two steps back. He's thrown five touchdown passes in six starts with three interceptions. Not to mention a horrific fumble against Los Angeles that ended up giving the Chargers a chance to win the game late. Fans are losing confidence in him at a rapid rate. Some though are trying to place blame elsewhere. Mostly on Nagy himself for his questionable play calling.
Former GM Charley Casserly though? He sees a different issue as he told longtime sportswriter Peggy Kusinski on her "The Sportscaster and Her Son" podcast.
"When you look at the Bears, who's the guy you have to defend? There's nobody that jumps out. I think he's limited by his weapons. I think people have figured out they don't have any top weapons. They've got some good players but there's no one guy you gotta go double cover. That's what you're missing with this thing and I think that hurts them. And it hurts Trubisky too but Trubisky just hasn't been consistent, which he wasn't last year either. So that's kind of caught up with them."
Unlike 2017, Mitch Trubisky can't lean on the weapons card
Casserly is certainly trying to raise a notable issue. Trubisky is too talented to not be successful, right? This must mean he has no weapons. Then again, Casserly is the same guy who drafted Heath Schuler and David Carr in the top 5 during his career as a GM. He may have won a Super Bowl in 1991 with the Washington Redskins, but that was with a quarterback the team had drafted three years before he took over. So maybe his opinion on what makes quarterbacks successful is a bit unreliable.
Allen Robinson is a legitimate stud that defenses have to game plan for. The same can be said for Tarik Cohen. Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel aren't stars but they've had standout games as well. Nobody is saying this offense is riddled with star power but it's plenty good enough to put up points.
Now to be fair, Casserly pointed out that Trey Burton has been a big problem this year. He's correct at that. The $8.5 million tight end has just 14 catches this season. He hasn't earned his money in the slightest. However, all the others have done the best they can. Trubisky just isn't hitting them with any sort of frequency even an average QB would.
