There’s sort of a cruel humor in the idea that this weekend’s game against the Chiefs is coming at the absolute best time for Matt Nagy and absolute worst for Mitch Trubisky.
Whether he’ll admit it or not, getting to go up against his professional mentor immediately after reaching a new low point as the Bears’ coach provides Nagy a little cover and a lot of motivation.
The optics are a lot less rosy for Trubisky, who now has to go up against his professional comparison, Patrick Mahomes, the reigning MVP, a week after being eliminated from the playoffs in Green Bay.
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“The comparisons are out there and they are never going to stop,” Trubisky said on Wednesday. “It’s kind of me, Pat [Mahomes] and Deshaun [Watson] are kind of all grouped together because we are in the same draft class, drafted in the first round and all that. But there are no do-overs. We are where we are.”
As the most active person you know on Facebook has already told you several times, both Mahomes and Watson were available to the Bears when they took Trubisky in the first round back in 2017. They traded up for Trubisky, who has 8,190 passing yards, 48 touchdowns and 29 interceptions since. Over that same time Watson has thrown for 9,532 yards, with 71 touchdowns and 28 picks. Pat Mahomes is Pat Mahomes.
In his perfect world, Trubisky’s answer would probably sound a lot more like Allen Robinson’s, who issued his shortest response of the year on Wednesday when asked to compare the two quarterbacks, only stating that he “[didn’t] want to get into all that.”
Instead, Trubisky – to his credit – met the topic head-on.
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“Our careers are going in different paths and they will for the rest of time,” added Trubisky. “And they’ll be compared against each other. It’s just the nature of the beast … and it’s just something that I can’t control. It is what it is. But two good guys to be compared to. Hopefully we just keep getting better and help the league.”
Infamous Pro Bowl picture aside, the two quarterbacks that’ll play at Soldier Field on Sunday night only know each other in passing, though Trubisky called Mahomes a ‘good dude’ and mentioned that “it’s been cool to hang out with guys like that.” He knows that the comparisons are out there, but talked at length on Wednesday about how the Bears’ mercurial season has taught him how to better tune out criticism, and his head coach agreed.
“He’s growing and he’s learning,” Nagy said. “He’s gone through a lot and we’ve gone through a lot. I’m very proud of the way he’s handled himself throughout.”
You’d understand Bears’ fans frustrations when, almost three years later, they see Mahomes measuring success with playoff wins and personal hardware while Trubisky measures his with intangible growth that primarily shows up behind the scenes. The former has put together another Pro Bowl season in 2019, and while the latter has not, the past six weeks have been better than his national reputation generally suggests.
“[I’m] seeing the game a little bit better,” he said. “I think it’s starting to slow down.”
But Mahomes visiting the Bears on a cold December night at Soldier Field offers Trubisky the opportunity to change the narrative, if ever so slightly.
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