LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) - Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy understands the temptation to compare, given the way his present and past quarterbacks are performing.
Mitchell Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes were top 10 selections in the same class and the first two QBs drafted in 2017.
But while Trubisky - the No. 2 overall pick that year - has turned in two shaky performances for Chicago this season, Mahomes has been lighting it up for Kansas City.
“Well, what’s fair to compare is you have one, in Patrick, who has had a full year in this offense to understand it,” Nagy said.
“Now, regardless of playing in it, he’s had a full year, more than a year to sit behind it and learn and understand and watch tape with those quarterbacks last year and get to see all the talk, all the discussions of where you go on this play and that play, whereas Mitchell hasn’t had that. He’s being forced into this thing right away, and so that’s where these growing pains are going to occur.”
Nagy spoke Tuesday, a day after the Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks to give their coach his first career victory.
Trubisky threw touchdown passes on Chicago’s first possession and early in the fourth quarter, but got intercepted two times by Shaquill Griffin.
The offense stalled for large portions of the game, and a defense led by Khalil Mack carried Chicago, sacking Russell Wilson six times.
That allowed the Bears to leave Soldier Field with a good feeling after they blew a 20-point lead in a season-opening loss to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Green Bay.
“I’m trying to get over just dwelling on plays too much,” Trubisky said. “I think it’s hurt me more than it’s helped me.
“So getting over plays and just building on what I did good and forgetting about what I did bad and continuing to improve and get better and learn this offense and Coach keeps saying, it is going to be a process. We want immediate results, but finding ways to win is very important and we did that.”
But it sure would help if Trubisky started emerging as the franchise quarterback the Bears envisioned him becoming when they traded up a spot with San Francisco to draft him.
The organization figured it would take time and was planning to have him mostly watch from the sideline last season with Mike Glennon starting.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way. Glennon struggled through four games before Trubisky replaced him as the starter.
The Bears then spent much of the offseason building around him by hiring an offensive-minded head coach and giving him some new options - most notably signing former Pro Bowl receiver Allen Robinson away from Jacksonville. But through two games, Trubisky has plenty of room to improve.
Trubisky has an 80.0 rating, with a pair of touchdown passes and as many interceptions. Compare that to Mahomes with a 143.3 rating and a league-leading 10 touchdowns with no interceptions.
Or maybe don’t compare.
The fact that Mahomes has a year in the Chiefs’ system and isn’t learning a new offense again isn’t the only difference. He also got what basically amounted to his redshirt year, sitting behind Alex Smith last season.
“It’s easy to compare two people because they were drafted in the same draft, top 10, one ahead of the other,” Nagy said. “So those comparisons are easy. But what’s real behind that is what I just said. You have one guy that has had plenty of time now to learn it.”
In the opener against the Packers, Trubisky at times was quick to scramble and abandon plays rather than stay in the pocket. He also couldn’t lead the Bears past midfield in the closing minutes when they needed to get into field-goal range.
Trubisky thought he did a better job staying in the pocket on Monday night.
“O-line did a fantastic job all night giving me time when I needed it and just finding those receivers, but they got a good scheme on their side,” he said.
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