It’s amazing how the narrative on Mitch Trubisky has shifted in the past four or five weeks. Coming out of the bye week, most saw the former #2 overall pick as a lost cause. Somebody the Chicago Bears had no choice but to turn back to because Nick Foles was hurt. Now here he is having led the team to a 3-2 mark since regaining the starting job with 10 TDs passes and just four interceptions.
One can make a strong argument he’s playing the best football of his career. Efficiency is up. Confidence is up. He’s starting to resemble the player he was back in 2018 before everything went south. A big reason why is the Bears finally shifting to an offensive approach that fits him. More running the ball, more play action, and more getting him on the move.
Now the Bears are one win away from making the playoffs after falling to 5-7.
Trubisky is one of the biggest reasons why. After all he’s been through, the 26-year old has put himself in a position to make some money this coming offseason. It’s a matter of where. Kalyn Kahler of Bleacher Report spoke to several scouts and executives around the league. All had versions of the same opinion. The Bears would be smart to keep him around.
“And play with who if they don’t sign him?” said one pro scout.
“What are your other options?” said an NFC executive. “He’s played well, regardless of competition, and proved doubters wrong.”
“If the regime stays, I wouldn’t be surprised if they re-sign him at a reduced rate and let him compete again next year,” another executive said.
“They are going to need a bridge player at QB,” the pro scout said.
“The way Mitch has played, they are foolish to try anybody else on this list and pay him,” the agent said. “I don’t think Trubisky is going to have a big market outside of Chicago.”
Essentially what these people are saying is the Bears have no definitive better options. Free agency won’t feature any likely upgrades. The trade market will be expensive and the Bears won’t be drafted higher than the late teens. So a 1st round quarterback isn’t likely either. Their best option appears to be keeping Trubisky on a team-friendly deal and focus on building the rest of the roster around him.
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Mitch Trubisky is good enough for the Alex Smith role
That is being a competent player who can have some good games over the course of the year against weaker opponents. Give him a steady running game and a reliable defense? The Kansas City Chiefs proved this method was more than satisfactory when they traded for Alex Smith in 2013. They went to the playoffs four times in five years with him as the starter despite never getting huge numbers out of him.
Is there any reason to think Mitch Trubisky can’t be similar? He’s athletic like Smith, able to make plays with his feet. He does a decent job avoiding turnovers (most of the time). He’s shown he can keep an offense on schedule and scoring points. Having him at least allows the team to focus their resources on the rest of the roster and his contract won’t be an albatross weighing everything down as true franchise QBs would.
Not the preferred scenario but far from a doomsday one either.
It at least allows the Bears to avoid completely blowing things up and starting over. They can retool on the fly and at least keep themselves in the playoff picture moving forward. Provided they keep the roster well-stocked. Then like the Chiefs, an opportunity should come up sooner or later for them to go after that next quarterback. This plan won’t appeal to a lot of fans. Yet it might be the best one this team has.
