UNC Football: Mitch Trubisky wins the Bears over at a dinner
Mitch Trubisky won the Chicago Bears over in a cool way while at dinner in Chapel Hill
Covert ops refers to a covert operation; an operation so well-planned and engineered that nobody is aware of the operation.
Rookie Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky may have missed his calling as a secret agent.
During the pre-draft period, Bears general manager Ryan Pace gave Trubisky the assignment of setting up a dinner unbeknownst to any UNC coaches and teammates and the public.
The other individuals who were involved in the dinner party consisted of Pace, coach John Fox, director of player personnel Josh Lucas, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone.
Enter special agent 0010 Mitch Trubisky.
Trubisky took the directive and pieced things together. Before Pace and his cohorts arrived on campus, the Bears GM had a text. Dinner at 7 p.m.
The venue: Bin 54, a top steakhouse in North Carolina’s Triangle region. The Triangle region consists of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. In order to keep the gathering covert, Trubisky made the reservation for six under an alias: James McMahon.
According to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, Pace said:
"“I thought that was cool.”"
Loggains added:
"“That told me he was prepared, that he did his homework. You knew this moment wasn’t too big for him. He still was having fun with it.”"
The rest of this story is history.
“Da Bears” were very impressed with Trubisky after this dinner meeting. Pace, Fox, Lucas, Loggains, and Ragone were so enamored about Trubisky’s upside and potential, that they selected Trubisky as the overall No. 2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
James “Jim” McMahon is the name of the former Chicago Bears quarterback from the 1985 Super Bowl XX Champion team that defeated the New England Patriots, 46-10. This victory represents the only Super Bowl win “Da Bears” franchise history.
Everything that Trubisky did was clever.
The dinner party took place in a secluded wine cellar. Trubisky illustrated his canny ability with his choice of Jim McMahon as his alias.
McMahon wore jersey No. 9. Trubisky’s jersey number is No. 10. In the 2008 song “Swagga Like Us,” Kanye West rapped at the end of his verse:
"“Trying to get that Kobe number, one over Jordan.”"
This verse represents the same amount of cleverness that Trubisky has. First, Trubisky’s alias during the dinner was the name of the only Bears’ quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
Second, the relation to his jersey compared to McMahon’s jersey number, similar to Michael Jordan (No. 23) and Kobe Bryant (No. 24).
Trubisky is trying to get one over McMahon, but not in the mathematical sense although 10 is greater than nine (e.g. 10 > 9).
He will attempt to do this throughout his career by leading the Monsters of the Midway back to a Super Bowl victory one day.