Most in the NFL media have written off Mitch Trubisky as a bridge quarterback that might not last the full season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pro Football Focus ranked him in the category of "Let's Not Get Our Hopes Up," Chris Simms listed him 27th out of 40 starting quarterbacks, and CBS didn't have him in their top 16. But there is one thing that everyone is still overlooking with Trubisky: Matt Canada's use of pre-snap motion.
Trubisky thrives when pre-snap motion is used. In fact, according to ESPN, Trubisky’s total QBR was 22.5 points higher with the Chicago Bears when motion was used. His completion percentage also jumped from 65% to 69% percent, and he threw 29 touchdowns to seven interceptions, compared to 35 touchdowns and 30 interceptions without motion. Offensive coordinator, Matt Canada has been known to use motion a lot in his play-calling. He used it heavily in his college OC career, and he utilized it as the quarterbacks coach for the Steelers in 2020. It should remain a staple in the offense moving forward.
How it has gone wrong for Steelers' Matt Canada and Mitch Trubisky so far
Matt Canada - When looking at both Matt Canada's first year as Steelers OC and Mitch Trubisky's career to this point, we can arrive at the same conclusion. The wrong coach for the wrong player. Matt Nagy in Chicago was the wrong coach for Trubisky and while Canada and Ben Roethlisberger's relationship wasn't rocky like Nagy and Trubisky's was, Roethlisberger in the final stage of his career was the wrong QB fit for a Matt Canada offense.
Roethlisberger admitted to the challenges of trying to learn Matt Canada's offense, telling NFL.com prior to last season:
"My daughter makes flash cards for me, and there have been some quizzes at home... It has become as much of a mental off-season as physical, in terms of learning new things. It's a little tougher, but I'm going into it full speed ahead and trying to be the best that I can be... New isn't always bad, it's just new."
Ben learned the offense, he just didn't excel in it, causing Canada to adapt and not use as much pre-snap motion as much. The Steelers ranked 17th in pre-snap motion percentage in 2021 at 12.0%
And now here's every team's motion rates in 2021. Number on left is motion on the snap -- what I mostly talk about. Number on right is all shifts/motion (including motion man coming set pre-snap).
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 22, 2021
Data all via ESPN's video tracking team. pic.twitter.com/3A43p6KDcd
With a quarterback like Mitch Trubisky, look for that number to jump, moving the Steelers into the top 10 in pre-snap motion percentage.
Mitch Trubisky - Mitch's time in Chicago was largely spent not gelling with Matt Nagy, on a personal or professional level. Nagy chewed him out publicly and no showed an end of year meeting between coach and quarterback. There was obvious frustration on both sides. But in 2018, Trubisky had the most improved passer rating from the previous season. He led the Bears to a 12-4 record and a division title, and Nagy was heralded as a genius for turning around Trubisky's lackluster rookie season. So where did it all go wrong?
Per @StatsBySTATS, QB Mitchell Trubisky’s passer rating improved from 77.5 last season to 95.4 this season, a 17.9 increase, which is the biggest increase in the league among QBs who qualified in both seasons.
— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) January 3, 2019
For starters, Trubisky was never the quarterback Matt Nagy wanted. And to Nagy's credit, Chicago did pass on Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson too in drafting Trubisky. Be that as it may, Trubisky's style of play and Nagy's style of coaching did not seem to gel. And whereas in the Canada/Roethlisberger situation where QB tried to learn coach's offense, and coach in turn modified the offense some to suit his quarterback, for better or worse. That dynamic didn't seem to work for Nagy/Trubisky. With one source telling the Chicago Sports News earlier this year:
“[Trubisky would] be in the middle of camp and be like, ‘Guys, none of this stuff is working,’ or he’d be pointing out the problems with the offense, and he’d be getting this, ‘Oh no, man. don’t worry at all. It’ll all come together. Have faith. Trust the process,’” a source said. “And then it gets to the season and we have all those problems happen.”
Matt Nagy got one year more of that same situation with rookie Justin Fields, but before he could hamper that promising young career, the Bears showed him the door.
ESPN,Ryan Clark apologizes to #Bears former 1st round quarterback Mitch Trubisky,who suffered through 3 years of Matt #Nagy's inept tutelage! as I have clearly stated 3 seasons. and got loads of backlash from "rose colored glasses" #Bearsfans. FGS! seeing is believing huh! pic.twitter.com/hE0IBp259R
— Michael Edens (@realme1459) September 27, 2021
So when NFL insiders write off Trubisky as a bust or rank him down around the Davis Mills or Sam Darnold's of the league, I have to wonder, are they basing all of their opinions of him on Nagy's offense? I would say they are overlooking what Trubisky could do in the right offense. And that very well could be Matt Canada's offense.
What do yinz think? Is Mitch Trubisky getting a bad rap before the season has started? Is Matt Canada's offense the right fit for him? Let us know in the comments below.
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