Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has already professed his love of Walter Payton and driven to Halas Hall in a beat-up Toyota Corolla, but in the lead-up to the NFL Draft he did something else to endear himself to fans.
According to a new piece in the Chicago Tribune, Trubisky was tasked with finding a restaurant and making a reservation when Bears brass were visiting him in Chapel Hill, and in order to keep a low profile, he used an alias that all Bears fans should be able to recognize:
“Before Pace and his cohorts arrived on campus, the Bears GM had a text. Dinner at 7 p.m.
“The venue: Bin 54, a top steakhouse in North Carolina’s Triangle region. And to keep the gathering covert, Trubisky made the reservation for six under an alias: James McMahon.
“I thought that was cool,” Pace says.”
For Bears fans who perhaps aren’t familiar with the origin of Trubisky’s chosen moniker, it was an homage to former quarterback Jim McMahon, who helped lead the Bears to a Super Bowl victory back in 1986.
Selected with the fifth overall pick in the 1982 NFL Draft, McMahon played seven seasons with the Bears, including the memorable 1985 season where he threw for nearly 2400 yards and 15 touchdowns as he helped guide the Bears to their lone Super Bowl victory in franchise history.