Not everyone has been swept up in Mitch Trubisky mania following the rookie quarterback's impressive performance last Thursday night in the Bears' preseason opener.
One of those individuals who is not yet ready to put the first-round draft pick in the Hall of Fame is Trubisky himself. Even after his stellar debut against the Broncos, the 22-year-old has remained humble and hungry.
Bears rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky showed his mobility against the Broncos, rushing for 38 yards on three carries.
"I don't know what hype you're talking about," Trubisky said Wednesday in response to a question from a reporter. "I don't pay attention to it. It's good to be back at Halas. Finished up camp pretty well. We've just got to continue to bring the energy and keep getting better every day like we have so far. We've still got a lot of work to do. But it's good to be back here and getting back at it."
In his first NFL game last Thursday night, Trubisky completed his first 10 pass attempts and led the Bears to two touchdowns and one field goal on his first three possessions. He finished the contest having completed 18 of 25 passes for 166 yards with one touchdown and a 103.1 passer rating while also rushing for 38 yards on scrambles of 16, 12 and 10 yards.
Nearly a week later, Trubisky conceded that "a couple more people texted me after the game" but dismissed his performance as "a small step in the right direction."
"I've still got a lot of work to do," Trubisky said. "I was pleased with how I played, but plenty more mistakes are going on in practice for me that I need to work on and continue to improve in my game and make sure when I go out there that I'm doing my job to help other people do their job.
"I think it just showed me that I'm making progress, that I could go out there and lead and do my job like I wanted to show. But it was just a small sample; it was the first game and you've just got to continue to be consistent in reproducing that. That's why we're out here working and practicing."
Among the issues Trubisky is working on in practice are taking the right pass drop and correctly identifying the 'Mike' linebacker at the line of scrimmage.
Trubisky said he benefitted in the preseason opener by being able to focus on a select group of plays on a sheet that was created by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains to give the rookie quarterback the best chance to succeed.
"Dowell comes up with the sheet, but I kind of talk to him and tell him what I'm comfortable with, what I like more than others," Trubisky said. "So when it comes down to two-minute or third down where it's crunch time, he kind of knows what I'm more comfortable with and what I can make work on certain down-and-distance situations.
"But it's not like it was a huge game plan because it was the first preseason game, so we only got a couple days with it. I'm not sure what we're going to do with Arizona [Saturday night], but the more and more we could go over a game sheet, the more we can be prepared, the more we can watch film on the opponent, it's just all the game preparation you need going into a game and I think that just helps the quarterbacks and the team in general."
Trubisky will be challenged by a Cardinals defense Saturday night in Arizona that's known for its frequent and exotic blitzes.
"It's tougher in practice than it was in the last game just because I don't think in the preseason [the Broncos] wanted to throw a lot at us or show a lot per se," Trubisky said. "But in practice I'm seeing a lot of different blitzes and I think game-planning on a week-to-week basis will help picking up the blitzes.
"But I'm doing a lot better job with the protection, getting it set, helping out my backs, making sure they're either in protection or I'm getting them out in a route to help in the progression of the play. It's all about getting set and getting the protection set, so I feel like I'm doing a lot better job of that."
