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Mitchell Trubisky has become the punching bag of NFL quarterbacks and someone everyone loves to take jabs at. Even as the Chicago Bears are undefeated — and Trubisky has shown obvious improvement — there are still some that can’t help themselves.
But this week has had Trubisky’s current and former teammates speaking up on his behalf, not that he needs it, which says a lot about how Trubisky is revered in the locker room.
The latest to speak out is former Bears quarterback Mark Sanchez, who served as a reserve during Trubisky’s rookie season. So Sanchez knows a little something about the former No. 2 overall pick.
Sanchez invited Trubisky on his podcast 4th and Forever, where the former teammates caught up and reminisced about 2017. Among the slew of topics in the near hour-long conversation was Trubisky’s 2019 struggles, which were well-documented and highlighted in Chicago and nationally. Everyone loved to rip on the Bears for drafted a struggling Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
“If anyone needed a fast start and a good start it was Mitch Trubisky,” Sanchez said of this 2020 season. “Because my dawg’s been getting a lot of criticism after one (bad) season.”
While Sanchez noted that he’s definitely biased given his friendship with his former teammate, he also took the unbiased approach. Sanchez proceeded to explain Trubisky’s circumstance as a rookie in a mess of chaos, which wasn’t an ideal learning environment.
Then his sophomore season happened, where Trubisky finally had the weapons, the system and the defense. While he was far from perfect, Trubisky made plays that left defenses on their toes, and he made some clutch throws, including a beautiful pass to Allen Robinson to set up what should’ve been a game-winning field goal in the NFC Wild Card playoffs.
“And then last year, it’s like everybody forgot about that in one week or two weeks,” Sanchez said.
Mark Sanchez responding to Trubisky criticism pic.twitter.com/nGN7xOQU7c
— Naj Omari (2-0) 🐻⬇️ (@omari_rose) September 25, 2020
Trubisky told Sanchez there was a point this offseason where he stopped caring about what outside voices were saying and focused on how he could get better.
“I really don’t care about anything else,” Trubisky said. “I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can. Anything that anybody says is just a fuel to the fire. I’m in attack mode.”
Also on the podcast, Trubisky discussed his reaction to learning the Bears had traded for Foles, his explanation about just how much that shoulder injury limited him last season and a hilarious story about Sanchez reacting to Trubisky’s dime to Anthony Miller against the Lions while on a plane home.
You can watch Sanchez’s interview with Trubisky in its entirety below: