Is there a silver lining to the Chicago Bears quarterback situation? Namely the fact that they have two guys who have played well in spurts during their careers. Nick Foles made a Pro Bowl in 2013 and won the Super Bowl in 2017. Mitch Trubisky had the most efficient season of the modern era for the team in 2018 and was a Pro Bowl alternate.
The common saying is if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. That isn’t entirely true. From a team perspective, such a situation can be viewed as a major positive. Why? Injury protection. Having two QBs with proven starting experience means if one gets hurt, the other is more than capable of stepping in and winning football games.
That might explain why Ian Hartitz of Pro Football Focus pegged the Bears as having the 7th-best backup QB situation in the NFL. One would think Foles is the guy he’s referring to for obvious reasons, but nope. In his estimation, it’s Trubisky who earns that “honor.”
“Backup QBs: Mitch Trubisky, Tyler Bray
It’s almost certain that Nick Foles is under center in Week 1 despite coach Matt Nagy’s insistence on going through an open competition. Sure, Foles hardly looked like a world-beating talent last season, but it was hardly an ideal situation behind the Jaguars’ patchwork offensive line. He’s more than capable of orchestrating Matt Nagy’s RPO-heavy offense at a high level considering his past success running similar schemes with the Eagles. Of course, Nagy was Foles’ QB coach in Kansas City back in 2016.”
Mitch Trubisky is already viewed as a backup in eyes of most
Now Pro Football Focus has made their agenda clear on Trubisky countless times already. So it’s not a huge surprise they’d view him this way. That being said, it’s not like they’re the only ones. Several prominent experts have long since stepped off his bandwagon. He is the black sheep of the 2017 draft class. The guy who failed to live up to expectations compared to Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
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Belief is his story is already written. He’ll lose to Foles in training camp and begin a long career as a journeyman backup. A common occurrence for many failed 1st round picks. That is unless he finds a way to survive the competition and deliver a rebound campaign. The odds are against that happening, but this is the NFL. Crazy stuff takes place on a weekly basis.
It would be quite the story if the 25-year old defied such expectations.