BOURBONNAIS — I’ll double-check, but I’m pretty sure Neil Armstrong didn’t say, “One small step for man, some incremental improvement for mankind.’’
Likewise, I don’t believe Daniel Burnham cast his eyes upon a growing Chicago and said: “You know what? Make little plans. In fact, the littler, the better!”
But Bears general manager Ryan Pace, asked what he wants to see out of quarterback Mitch Trubisky this season, apparently doesn’t want anybody getting any big ideas. Presumably, that includes Trubisky not getting any big ideas.
“The word that comes to mind for me is incremental improvement — steady, incremental improvement — and I think we’ve seen him do that,” Pace said the other day. “And as long as he just keeps on that pace [of] steady, incremental improvement, we’ll be happy. You can feel his confidence growing. We’ve talked about that.
“Chemistry, continuity, all those things going into Year 2, and that’s going to continue as we go forward.”
But it’s not Year 2 for Trubisky. This will be his third season in the NFL. Pace was counting in Matt Nagy years. As a rookie in 2017, Trubisky started 12 games for former coach John Fox, which, although it might feel like ancient and unfortunate history, still counts.
We all see what Pace is trying to do here. He hopes to take some of the pressure off his quarterback in what he and Bears fans hope is a Super Bowl-contending season. By talking about “incremental improvement” and “Year 2,” he’s launching a preemptive strike against those of us asking for more, a lot more, from the quarterback. Too late, Ryan!
The problem is that the Bears traded up to take Trubisky with the second overall pick in the 2017 draft, a fact from which there is no escape and a truth for which there is no protection. The other problem, the bigger problem, is that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the 10th pick of that very same draft, was the NFL’s MVP in 2018, his first year as a starter. This really is Mahomes’ Year 2 as a regular.
There’s nothing wrong with incremental improvement. You want that in sophomore geometry class and in hip-replacement rehab. But the Bears need much more than that from Trubisky, who has to take a giant leap for the team to be all it can be in 2019.
They can’t have the Mitch who was bad for three quarters and good for one quarter in the playoff loss to the Eagles last season.
Trubisky met with the media Thursday as the Bears reported for training camp, and it was clear that he and Pace are on the same page, if not the same phrase: incremental improvement.
“I would say that’s a theme of camp for me and really my career up to this point,” he said.
But isn’t it reasonable to expect a lot more at this point?
“I think if you just focus on the little things, then the big leaps will take care of themselves,” he said. “Obviously, we all want to have big years, but it doesn’t happen like that. We’ve got to come to work every day. You’ve got to focus on getting better at one thing at a time every single drill, every single snap. And that’s what I’m focused on, and the results will happen how they will.”
It’s possible that I have this all wrong. Maybe the Bears just need a pretty good quarterback for those times when their dominant defense needs time to rest or to pick bits of Packers, Vikings and Lions out of their teeth. But it’s hard to see Nagy being content with an offense that is just OK.
It’s important to note that Trubisky isn’t shying away from being great. He doesn’t seem to want to put a timetable on when that greatness might arrive, though.
“I don’t think I’ve tapped into the talent that I have and what I can do and what I can show on the field,” he said. “It’s just putting it all together, really — the flashy plays that I have made and the mistakes that I’ve made. Just getting rid of those [mistakes] and continuing to make those good plays and being a more consistent, overall quarterback.”
At least one teammate thinks Trubisky is “a dog” — in a good way.
“Simple words, simple interactions during practice,” linebacker Khalil Mack said of him. “Simple things. Just understanding his mindset and how he thinks. Yeah, he’s a dog, man. That’s what I want in my quarterback.”
Trubisky has embraced the role of being one of the Bears’ leaders, which helps explain his answer to a question about what “little things” he plans to work on in camp.
“I think it could be as simple as cleaning up in the locker room, just simple things like that,” he said. “Keeping your room neat, cleaning up in the locker room, making sure you’re properly warmed up for practice, getting recovery, eating right — little things like that.”
When I asked for more out of Trubisky, I didn’t expect that to include housekeeping services. It’s progress, the incremental kind. But at some point, we need to find out how much more he has to give. Sooner would be better than later.
