Mitchell Trubisky and Teammates Say They're Calloused for Playoffs

Bears see 2018 double-doink experience and a roller-coaster 2020 season as good experience for winning a road playoff game

Mitchell Trubisky feels like a quarterback who has been calloused, to borrow one of coach Matt Nagy's favorite words.

The Bears see themselves as a team well equipped to handle the pressures of a playoff game after their 2018 playoff experience and disappointment, if not the rigors of a 2020 season full of triumph and disaster.

"I feel like I am more prepared than I was back then," Trubisky said of the 2018 playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. "I feel like my game has gotten better. I just feel like I am a better leader and what my team needs at this point and just how to push them and have a great week of practice and go into the game and lead my team and give us a chance to win."

One of the forgotten aspects of the playoff loss to Philadelphia because of the double-doink at game's end was how Trubisky rallied the Bears earlier in the fourth quarter for a lead and then to get into field position to be able to win the game, if not for kicker Cody Parkey.

"He's much different than he was in 2018," coach Matt Nagy said. "Everything was going so fast for us and he was still learning that system. We were what, 16-17 games into that year, we were still figuring out, 'OK, he likes this play' or 'No, he doesn't like this play," as we were going through the games.

"So the trust factor in some concepts you might not have like you do right now. So you're relying on, plus he's never played in a playoff game (then). That was his first playoff game. So that's different."

He's also still the quarterback who as a starter has beaten only three teams that made the playoffs -- Carolina in 2017 and Seattle and the L.A. Rams in 2018. Trubisky had virtually nothing to do with the wins over Carolina and the Rams.

The difference Nagy sees in Trubisky isn't necessarily who he beats but how he conducts business. He hears Trubisky tell coaches what he likes with the offense now whereas the Trubisky of two years ago silently tried to perform as told.

"I think that he's grown in that way in regards to he has more confidence now in what we are doing schematically, not just in the boot(leg)s, the nakeds, the play-passes but in the drop-back game as well," Nagy said. "There is stuff that he likes that he feels good about that we like to stick to. That just comes with time, that part will only grow for him. I think good coaches listen to players that have conviction about plays they like."

Nagy sees this is a natural progression.

"He's only going to continue to keep growing, now that he has that playoff experience from how to prep for a playoff game in his back pocket," Nagy said. "Now this is Game 2 for him, how is he going to learn from Game 1 against the Eagles in 2018?

"For us, how we want to use him. But he's absolutely grown as a quarterback and as a person and he's worked hard at it. It has not come easy and because of that we are having success."

The team by and large feels like it's changed from that team. It should. If Roquan Smith doesn't play, as it seems likely, only 11 of the 22 starters for the Bears from that first playoff game will be starting against New Orleans.

Allen Robinson is one of them, and the Bears feel they know they can expect an elevated level of play from Robinson in the pressure of the bright lights. Robinson feels like he can count on teammates, as well.

"For us, we have a lot of guys who've been through adversity through the season, we've been through a lot of adversity as a team through this season and we feel like again, that has made us a better team when it comes to certain things down the stretch," Robinson said. "Guys have leaned on each other and have had to lean on each other all season.

"The playoffs isn't any different. Guys are locked in, tuned in and guys are excited for the opportunity on Sunday."

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