Chuck Pagano reveals why Bears teammates 'love Mitch' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Among the Bears’ end-of-season press conference, expert analysis and fan assessments of the 2020 season, praise for Mitchell Trubisky has been hard to find. To give you any idea, Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy were quick to commend Nick Foles for the job he did as a backup this season, but throughout their entire media availability they never mentioned Trubisky by name. Not once. But now Trubisky is getting some positive reviews from former defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano who spoke about the embattled QB on Adam Schefter’s podcast on Tuesday.
“Going through what he went through, and then coming back and leading us to those victories down the road and getting us in the playoffs, you’ve got a tough son of a gun there,” Pagano said on The Adam Schefter Podcast. “Mentally, physically, the guy’s a winner. He’s a warrior.”
It’s true that when looking at his win-loss record alone, Trubisky has been one of the most successful quarterbacks in Bears history. In the Super Bowl era, only Jay Cutler, Jim Harbaugh and Jim McMahon have won more games than Trubisky. After a resurgent end of the season, Trubisky now stands as the most accurate QB in Bears history as well, completing 64% of his passes (min. 200 attempts).
“To be put in those circumstances that he was, and to go through what he did, and to stay with it— you know, I’ve seen a lot of guys go the other way. We all have. For him to stay right there, and then all of a sudden your number gets called again, you know Nick goes down and then you come back in— he’s got a lot of love and respect in that building. The players, his teammates, they love Mitch and they respect Mitch, and they had his back.”
Trubisky and the Bears offense made Pagano’s job much tougher than it needed to be, making his positive feedback more surprising. According to teamrankings.com, the Bears ranked 18th in the league for time of possession, meaning Pagano’s defense needed to be on the field longer than most. Plus, Trubisky averaged nearly one interception per game, giving the defense the added pressure of quick changes and short fields to defend. Still, Pagano opted to place the blame at his own feet, rather than use Trubisky as a scapegoat.
“I wish I could’ve done more for Coach Nagy and that organization, and for the offense to help those guys. But, I love Mitch.”
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