Bears Found Creative Way to Help Mitch Trubisky on His Deep Throws

Mitch Trubisky is a good quarterback. He proved that in 2018. The guy was a Pro Bowl alternate, posted a franchise record for season passer rating (95.4), scored 27 touchdowns, and won 11 games. With all due respect to that great defense, there’s no way the Bears go 12-4 without Trubisky. The persistent problem people have with him isn’t his overall game. It’s more about one particular aspect of it.

That being his deep ball. Trubisky had more deep completions of 50 yards or more than any other QB in the NFL with six last season. However, that doesn’t tell the entire story. Specifically the one regarding all the other opportunities he missed. All told, he threw 82 passes of 20 yards or more last season. He only completed 31 of them with eight touchdowns and six interceptions. There were persistent issues regarding his accuracy.

Too often Trubisky had a problem overthrowing his targets, who were wide open a number of times. A big part of this was his mechanics. The quarterback wasn’t always disciplined in his footwork. This made it far too easy for balls to get away from him. Quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone recognized this issue and so decided to use an interesting method to help the 24-year old get a grasp on how to master this art of the position.

Mitch Trubisky can use golf to help guide his long ball

There aren’t a lot of sports that can apply to this rather unique situation. One where a man has to put the ball into a small window on a moving target several yards down the field. There is one that comes pretty close though.

Golf.

Ragone told Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times and others about how he uses the idea of “club selection” to help Trubisky understand that every deep throw requires a different level of touch.

“Does he pick the right club? … Does he put enough air under it, or is it too flat?” Ragone said. “That’s innate things. You have to be able to process that within three seconds in order for the ball to come out there.

That’s constantly the conversation: ‘Hey, what do you think about that club selection? Is it too much air? Too flat?’ … or, ‘Hey, you didn’t like that route? Tell the guy.’”

“In my own opinion, there’s no worry of deep-ball accuracy,” Ragone said.

A typical golf bag carries around 11-13 clubs from the 2-iron through the 9-iron, the sand wedge, the driver, and the putter. Each club results in different distances covered when swung. Each requires a different level of power on the swing to work effectively. It is not an easy thing to master. Just like throwing the deep ball in the NFL.

Trubisky is basically an amateur golfer with a powerful swing. He can launch the ball plenty far, but he only hits the fairway half the time. His goal must be learning to prioritize accuracy over distance. Those that do are the ones who end up winning the tournaments.