On Friday night, ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed that the Chicago Bears plan on quarterback Mitchell Trubisky being the starter week 1, against the Detroit Lions. The decision comes after Trubisky and Nick Foles competed for the starting quarterback position throughout camp. The decision to name the former second overall pick starter shouldn’t be a surprise as it would have been a scathing indictment against the current front office and head coach.
General manager Ryan Pace’s most important draft pick of his six seasons in charge of the Bears was Trubisky. It was a controversial one because of trade that led to the selection. Furthermore, it was the selection of the North Carolina quarterback over the other quarterback prospects, including Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, which further increased the scrutiny of the pick. Now four years later, Mahomes has won a Super Bowl title and an MVP while Watson has led the Houston Texans to multiple playoff appearances. Had the Bears not had Trubisky be the starter in the last year of his rookie contract, Pace would likely be fired following the season if the team underperformed once again.
Head coach Matt Nagy needed Trubisky to start and to perform well because the main reason for his hiring was to develop the young quarterback. Chicago hired Nagy in January of 2018, after being the Kansas Chiefs quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for several seasons. His time coaching Pro-Bowl Alex Smith led the Pace and the Bears to believe he could do the same with Trubisky. At the time of the hire, Nagy was viewed as one of the next up and coming offensive minds who was going to oversee a high producing offense. Through two seasons as Bears head coach, his offenses have ranked no higher than 22nd in the league. Trubisky has been the starter in 13 of the team’s 16 games, with Nagy being the team’s play-caller.
Had the team named Foles the starter for week 1, it would have been an admission that the general manager chose the wrong quarterback, and the coach failed to develop the young quarterback. Even trading for the veteran quarterback showed that the team wanted Trubisky to be the starter at the beginning of the season. With better quarterbacks such as Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton, and Cam Newton available during the offseason, the Bears chose to trade for Foles due to his familiarity with Nagy’s offense. Although the journeyman quarterback led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2017 and Divisional round of the playoffs in 2018, he failed in Jacksonville last season. Foles not only suffered a significant injury that cost him a good portion of the season. He played so poorly upon his return that Gordon Minshew replaced him as the starter.
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Foles’ purpose with the Bears is to be their insurance policy if Trubisky fails to perform while the defense is keeping the team in winnable games. If the veteran can help lead the team to the playoffs after taking the starting job over, this will at least allow both Pace and Nagy to separate themselves from their younger quarterback. Benching Trubisky from the start would have tied both of them to the quarterback, to where any success seen with Foles to start, fans and the media would have stilled looked negatively at Pace and Nagy.
