It’s been covered for weeks already and figures to continue for the next two months. Will the Chicago Bears quarterback competition be a real competition? Veteran signing Mike Glennon said that the team informed him multiple times that 2017 was his year. Top draft choice Mitch Trubisky will be a sit-and-learn man for this year, absorbing the pro style and learning the NFL speed.
That however is not something advisable from the perspective of a former All-Pro center. If anybody knows what great quarterbacking looks like, it’s Jeff Saturday. The man protected two of the best to play the game. First it was Peyton Manning, who will be entering the Hall of Fame in the next couple years. Then it was Aaron Rodgers. He has his own date down the line as well.
His opinion on how to manage the quarterback position is worth listening to. That’s why it was interesting to hear him weigh in on ESPN radio regarding what the Bears should do.
Chicago Bears quarterback competition should be wide open
“I don’t appreciate when someone says there is no competition here. In my opinion, no team gets better by diminishing the ability to compete,” Saturday said on ESPN Radio’s “Dickerson and Hood Show.”
“They paid Glennon a lot of money and they are going to try and get that year out of him, but my issue with that — as a veteran — is that if Trubisky shows up and just balls out and is the guy on offense that everyone wants to follow, shows he can be an incredible leader on the football field, and shows he’s a great quarterback and is better than Glennon, and then you make that decision that he’s not going to start no matter what … I think you’ve done yourself a tremendous disservice.”
Saturday is another alum of North Carolina. He knows what it’s like to come out of the draft with questions surrounding him out of a traditionally weaker football program. He also knows the value of being in open competition. He battled through most of his rookie year in 1999 and eventually became a starter. From there he reached six Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl championship.
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Pretty good for an undrafted free agent. If he could pull it off, why can’t the second overall pick in the draft? If Trubisky doesn’t win the competition, then no big deal. The Bears stick by the original plan to sit and teach him. On the other hand, him outperforming Glennon would be a clear sign he belongs on the field. College starting experience be damned.
