The Chicago Bears are in the midst of a playoff chase. One that looked dead in the water just a couple of weeks ago. They laid down against Green Bay. They coughed up a win against Detroit. It was over. They were cooked. Then the team unexpectedly came out hot and crushed the Houston Texans 36-7. An emphatic win that didn’t seem in their power for so long. All of it orchestrated by quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
He finished with three touchdown passes in the game. It was the second week in a row he finished with a passer rating over 100 and completed more than 72% of his passes. People have started to wonder. Is getting away from Matt Nagy’s play-calling a big reason for this newfound success? He does seem to have a nice chemistry building with offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. Some are even contemplating the unthinkable.
If this trend continues, do the Bears dare consider keeping him in 2021?
Make no mistake. The discussions are being had out there. Not just on social media but in the actual media too. Part of the reason why is the reality of the Bears’ situation. They aren’t likely to finish with a high 1st round pick. So their chances of landing a top quarterback are remote. Maybe they keep Trubisky one more year and spend the draft bulking up the offense.
One man who seems to like that idea is former Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt. He told Mully & Haugh of 670 The Score it makes sense for both sides.
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“What I would recommend? You got a good rapport with his agent, obviously. No one’s going to say Mitch will be a starter. That’s a given. I think you can get him and two things are working in the favor of the Bears here. Number one there’s not going to be a high demand for Mitch being a starter. So if we can give him more than backup money somewhere and he can be our starter, maybe with incentives, I would definitely sign Mitch back.”
Wannstedt went on to explain that because of the fallout of blockbuster contracts for guys like Carson Wentz and Jared Goff, owners will be much more reluctant to offer big money to quarterbacks. That will hurt the market for Trubisky further, improving the Bears’ chances of keeping him at their preferred price.
Mitch Trubisky is far from proving he’s made progress
Have the Bears really seen anything to indicate he’s turned a corner. Yes, his numbers are strong the past three weeks with seven touchdown passes and just two interceptions. Context is always key though. Two of those TDs came in garbage time of a blowout loss to Green Bay. Also, don’t forget his backbreaking strip-sack against the Lions that cost the Bears the game the next week.
This guy is still prone to ugly stretches of football. Beating up on two bad defenses like the Lions and Texans should not change that. This coming Sunday should offer a true litmus test for where he is. The Minnesota Vikings aren’t a good defense but they are a well-coached one. Well-coached defenses always give Trubisky problems. In five career games against them, he’s failed to throw a TD pass in three of them.
If he delivers a strong performance against them in a must-win situation?
That should be when conversations start about trying to keep him another year. It won’t be easy. The Bears won’t have a lot of spending money due to the projected drop in salary cap. Even backup quarterbacks can be expensive, so even a one-year deal for Mitch Trubisky to stay would stint. Especially when the Bears are also trying to keep his favorite target Allen Robinson.
