The magic dust that was apparently, allegedly, sprinkled over Mitch Trubisky last year in Buffalo turned out to be, well, as silly as it all sounded.
The story went something like this: Trubisky — a No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft that was let go after four seasons by the Bears because he wasn't the elite passer they were looking for — went to Buffalo for a season and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll transformed him into a completely different quarterback. And he also benefitted greatly from watching Josh Allen practice and perform every week.
And combine that year of education with the fact that he was joining the Steelers, a much better organization than the Bears with much better coaches, and Trubisky was destined to become a star.
He isn't, and in fact, he looked Sunday in the Steelers' 23-20 overtime win over the Bengals a lot like the quarterback who fizzled out in Chicago. And the fact that there are people out there seemingly surprised by this is incredible, as very few players are capable of becoming something they haven't been in Year 6 after five years of being something else.
Trubisky is who he is: a game manager who is incredibly tough, incredibly resilient and often more resourceful than actually good. He is a guy who may actually work well for this transition year for the Steelers between the Ben Roethlisberger era and the inevitable era of Kenny Pickett.
That is why the Steelers brought him in. He is a veteran player who is probably good enough to win enough games — with a great defense at his back — to get to the playoffs while Pickett takes a year as his understudy to learn and grow before taking over. He isn't much more than that, however, and he is rarely ever going to be the difference between the Steelers winning and losing.
Trubisky was 21 of 38 for 194 yards and one touchdown pass. He didn't make many big-time passes, but he made enough plays to put the Steelers in position to win. He was a little inaccurate, his receivers bailed him out a few times and he checked down a few times prematurely as opposed to waiting for a big play to develop. Diontae Johnson made an incredible catch on a bad ball on the game-winning drive, Chase Claypool made an incredible catch earlier in the game, and there were a number of other balls that were thrown outside of the receivers' ability to catch them.
He isn't terribly accurate, but he never has been. The one thing I don't get is why the Steelers didn't use his ability to run more. That is the one thing Trubisky does really well. He is an athletic player and his ability to run could be a very big weapon for the Steelers.
It was clear, though, that part of the game plan was for Trubisky to be safe and err on the side of caution and not throw the ball to the Bengals. The most important number in this game was 5, as in the Steelers were plus-five in turnovers over the Bengals.
And while the Steelers defense was ball-hawking the Bengals and dominating the game, I am sure the Steelers' thoughts of Trubisky just managing the game and not making mistakes grew. But in overtime, when they absolutely needed him to make a few throws, he made them. He made the throw to Johnson, then was quick on his feet to take advantage of a free play (because the Bengals were offsides) to Pat Freiermuth that essentially gave the Steelers their opportunity to kick the game-winning field goal.
Earlier in the game, he also made a really athletic and heads-up play to avoid a safety. Again, those are the things he does well — he is gritty and tough and creative and he is the ultimate example of just finding a way, and that is who he has been his entire career.
It is clear that Trubisky and the offense will have to be far more productive if they are going to win games this year. Yes, I get it, they went on the road and beat the AFC champs. But let's face it, they were plus-five in turnovers and still needed a freak injury to the Bengals long snapper to win the game. Ask yourself this — if the Bengals would have been plus-five in turnovers in that game, what would the final score have been?
It worked Sunday because the defense was incredible. If the defense would have been just good, the Steelers would have lost. And there will be a lot of weeks when it is just good. The offense needs to be better and that means Trubisky needs to be better. But the question is, how much better is it realistic to believe he can be?
That is a question I suppose we will get answers to throughout this season, but I am not expecting the ceiling isto be much higher than what we saw Sunday. It was good enough to win and may be good enough to win a lot of games, but the idea that there is something much more coming is fantasy.
Trubisky is who he is, and so far, that's just enough to be OK for the Steelers.
