It may be his first full season as the Bears' QB1, but Mitchell Trubisky is used to spotlights. The 2nd overall pick in 2017 is facing heightened expectations, in part due to the hiring of Matt Nagy and the Bears' retooled offense. With his development in the forefront of the Bears season so far, at least one Hall of Fame QB has been impressed: Terry Bradshaw. In an interview with NBC Sports, Bradshaw touched on what he's liked from Trubisky so far and what he expects going forward:
“People, critics of the NFL and young quarterbacks are quick to judge them," he said. "And I’m quick to advise you, having been a young quarterback called a failure, called dumb and stupid. Until all of a sudden I had a fullback, I had a flanker, I had a split end, I had an All-Pro center, Hall of Famer, I had great offensive lineman, a great defense. You get what I’m saying? Put the right people around Trubisky and then let’s see how he does. You’re building a program around a young kid and it’s not an easy game, especially if you don’t have great people. He has got to be surrounded by quality people. Until you do that, you can’t judge him, I don’t think it’s fair to judge him. It’s funny how I went from being stupid to being smart and all of a sudden I got Swann and Stallworth and Harris. I mean come on. You got to have great people around him and at the same time you can’t be afraid to use him and use his talents."
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"So many times they’ll pull the reign in on these guys cause you don’t want him to get hurt or to lose his confidence. If you don’t want him to lose his confidence, then be supportive when you have him in the meetings. Tell him, ‘hey look, our lines not as good, our receivers… we’re gonna get you the right people. Keep building him up instead of him having to read the papers and hear what people are saying about tearing him down. And then we’ll judge him properly, but right now is not the time to do that. What I see I like and as they get better people around him and get more aggressive in their playcalling, you’re gonna see this guy can play football. Let’s get some guys around him and then we’ll judge him.”
To cap it off, Bradshaw's first impressions of the new-look Bears sort of mirrored most others':
"Impressed. Much better. Aaron Rodgers pulled off one of his heroic plays, the touchdown pass which was a simple little 10-yard hitch route and he snapped that right past the back covering the wide receiver, and a way he goes for the touchdown. That’s just amazing and great athletic ability by the receiver. And the fact that Rodgers has such a quick release and he’s squeezing the pass in there and he’s throwing on one leg. That’s why he’s great and that’s why he is making 131 million bucks."
You can catch the entire video in the player above. If you can impress Terry Bradshaw after 13 career starts, you're doing something right.