GM Ryan Pace said his goal from the outset back in 2015 was to create as much competition as possible on the Chicago Bears roster. By and large, he’s stuck to this promise with almost every position group having experienced a sort of creative tension with guys pushing each other for playing time. That is everywhere except quarterback. For the most part, Pace never made it seem like he was ready to make guys uncomfortable at that position. It was true with Jay Cutler and is proving the same with Mitch Trubisky.
In 2015, Pace inherited Cutler coming off another disappointing year. One where he went 5-10 and threw 18 interceptions, the second-most of his career. It seemed like an opportune time to bring in somebody who could offer a challenge to the status quo. Pace instead just chose to keep Jimmy Clausen as the backup with nobody else coming in. The next year wasn’t much different. Brian Hoyer was signed to improve the backup position but nobody took him seriously as a threat to unseat Cutler.
In the end, the Bears never actually did try to push Jay. Between 2009 when they traded for him and the end of his tenure in 2016, they drafted a grand total of three quarterbacks. Two of them in the 6th round and one in the 5th. Cutler never considered them threats and for good reason. By the sound of things, Trubisky is settling into that same mentality.
Even with the Bears enduring a disappointing 2019 season, one the 25-year old QB had a big hand in, he doesn’t sound like a guy operating with a sense of urgency to discover where it all went wrong.
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“Um, I’m really not feeling much. I really haven’t had time to think about the season.
I really don’t like dwelling on the past too much either.
It’s just life. You go through years, days, months where things aren’t going your way but being negative is not going to help that.”
Mitch Trubisky clearly doesn’t consider his job in danger
Nobody will question Trubisky’s work ethic. He puts in the necessary hours and then some. He also takes his role as a leader seriously too. The problem is the quarterback isn’t taking on more responsibility for where things are at. He keeps saying “we need to fix this and we need to fix that.” It may sound like he’s trying to make it clear the Bears win and lose as a team, which is true. However, the best quarterbacks are often the ones who take the heat when things go bad and deflect the praise when they go good.
Trubisky hasn’t done that. He sounds like a man who feels secure in his job and that he’s doing enough to be good. It’s just a matter of everyone else getting there too. That isn’t how it works. The best quarterbacks don’t wait for others around them to get there. They will everybody else to play up to their level. Good QBs raise the play of those around them. Trubisky hasn’t done that. The Bears have done everything they can to make him comfortable with good weapons and a QB-friendly offense.
It hasn’t been enough.
So if that hasn’t hammered home that what he’s done isn’t good enough, then it might be time to send a message. One that involves acquiring another quarterback who isn’t just some depth option via the bargain bin in free agency or Day 3 of the draft. Somebody with credibility who looks like they could be an NFL starter. Sometimes that is what it takes to wake a guy up. Either Trubisky realizes that time is short and finally begins to ascend, or he wilts under the pressure and proves once and for all he isn’t the guy.
