Donovan McNabb's advice for Mitch Trubisky: ‘You have to slide feet first'

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Donovan McNabb spent a dozen years as one of the best rushing quarterbacks in the NFL, finishing his standout career with 3,459 yards on the ground with 29 touchdowns. 

So when he saw how Mitch Trubisky went down to the ground on the play on which he injured his throwing shoulder Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, McNabb had some advice for the Bears’ quarterback. 

“You have to slide feet first,” McNabb said in an appearance on SportsTalk Live Tuesday. “Like, you’re nowhere near getting the first down. Just slide feet first. And when you do that, now that takes everything out of the question. No one’s coming down to spear you, no one’s coming down to make the tackle. But if you go face first, then they’re going to go after you. So I think for him, either utilize the out of bounds or get down.”

McNabb’s right about the down and distance — the Bears had a first and 10 on their own 44-yard line when Trubisky took a zone read handoff moving to his left. It was sort of an awkward run — as Trubisky crossed the line of scrimmage he was already falling forward. Committing to a slide, as McNabb said, would’ve lessened the risk of being awkwardly (and illegally) hit by Smith. 

Bears coach Matt Nagy, though, didn’t criticize Trubisky’s sliding ability or feel for when to do it. 

“I think you see it in every game with quarterbacks that can run, that’s a part of the risk-reward,” Nagy said. “You’ve got to make sure they understand how to not put their body in harm. To me, what happened the other night when he got hit, there’s nothing he could’ve done different. He’s playing the game of football and got a late hit.”

One thing both McNabb and Nagy mentioned is teaching quarterbacks how to slide by using a summer backyard favorite.

“What (coaches) used to do is bring you the slip-n-slide,” McNabb said. “They teach you how to slide because most of these guys, they’ve never played baseball, these guys they were always the biggest guy on the football field so they would try to run everybody over.”

Only four quarterbacks — Cam Newton, Lamar Jackson, DeShaun Watson and Dad Prescott — have totaled more rushing attempts in 2018 than Trubisky (51), who enters Week 12 as the NFL’s leading rushing quarterback (363 yards, nine more than Newton — on 26 fewer attempts). But as we saw Sunday night, those attempts can be dangerous if a quarterback exposes himself to hits, even if they’re deemed illegal. 

“He's good at (sliding),” Nagy said. “Because he's running more often than others, there's different times that he slides and different ways that he slides. I've been around some bad sliders, including Michael Vick, and he'd laugh at it. He couldn't slide to save his life. We used to go out and put the slip n' slide out after practice and try to teach him and he couldn't do it. 

“Then you've got these baseball players that have played baseball in high school that know how to do it. Mitch knows how to do it. He knows how to slide. Sometimes you'll see him slide certain ways because of angles of where you're at on the field and when you're trying to get down or not get down. Again, it comes with territory.

“… He is good at it. I don't think it, I know he's good at it.”

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