The first rule of Mitch-a-palooza is you don't talk about Mitch-a-palooza, apparently. John Fox already tossed a bucket of water on the Mitchell Trubisky fun this week. Now the rookie quarterback is downplaying the hype.
Actually, he claims not to know anything about the hype club.
"I don't know what hype you're talking about," Trubisky said Wednesday, via the team's official website. "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."
Trubisky's finger-in-the-ears tactic is understandable after he completed 18 of 25 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown against Denver Broncos' backups last week. If he duplicates that performance Saturday night in Arizona, the party in Chicago will ratchet up a few more notches.
For his part, Trubisky acknowledged he has several strides to make, noting mistakes during practice -- specifically mentioning making the wrong drop in the pocket and incorrectly identifying the middle linebacker.
"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," he continued. "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."
The hype in Chicago for Trubisky is fueled by several factors: Mike Glennon, by comparison, looked terrible. Chicago hasn't had a good young quarterback since... ever. Bears fans entered the offseason with little belief their team could be entertaining, let alone win games. The rookie provides hope they were wrong. With the impending gloom of winter not far off in Chicago, fans just want to have something to provide hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Right now, Trubisky embodies that hope. Even if he isn't yet buying the hype himself.
