The Chicago Bears starting Mike Glennon was a decision by the coaching staff to go with the experienced hand. Head coach John Fox wanted a veteran under center who could manage the offense while letting the defense and running game carry the load. Problem is that old school style of football doesn’t capture the imagination of modern NFL audiences, long since conditioned to seeing top notch quarterback play.
This team was already suffering a major downturn in fan interest at the end of last season. People stopped showing up to games. The vaunted Soldier Fields sellouts finally came to an end, something experts thought would never happen. Problem is the repeated blows of bad football, ugly off-the-field incidents and stubborn inability to evolve finally eroded their confidence in the organization.
Their seeming unwillingness to unshackle their prized #2 overall pick Mitch Trubisky isn’t helping.
Bears starting Mike Glennon is killing fan enthusiasm for the season
By far the biggest piece of excitement Bears fans were clinging to over the past couple months was Trubisky. For the first time in 34 years the franchise had a top five quarterback in the building. His tremendous performances in the preseason fueled that fire, leading some to wonder (and even demand) he get the starting nod over Glennon.
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The Bears did not budge. Glennon was kept in place, throwing for 213 yards and a TD in his debut loss to Atlanta. While most experts have said the 28-year old was “fine” in the game, the fact is he was everything people expected. He protected the ball but he led a bland, boring passing offense that produced zero big plays.
Experts had warned it was coming, and sure enough fans made it clear they weren’t interested in watching. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears’ TV ratings for the opener were considerably down from last year.
“The Bears and Falcons averaged a 20.8 household rating on FOX-32, which translates to 20.8 percent of the Chicago market or an average of approximately 720,325 homes over the three-hour game.
The 2016 Bears averaged a 22.4 household rating on FOX-32 for their 23-14 Week 1 loss at Houston, where they led the Texans at halftime but got shut out the rest of the way.
Ratings this time around would have been worse if not for a surge of interest in the final minutes, as fans realized the Bears could upset the Falcons.
Roughly 848,460 homes (or 24.5 percent of the market) had the game on as quarterback Mike Glennon led the Bears to the 5-yard-line with 21 seconds left only to stall there with three incomplete passes and a sack.”
Common sense says everything is different if Trubisky plays
There were plenty of explanations for why the ratings were down. Per usual the mix of non-sports related news (Hurricane Irma) combined with concerns over the physicality of the game were used. Truth be told a big reason is the lack of compelling matchups. No doubt the retirement of Peyton Manning didn’t help matters. He was an always reliable draw to the game, especially when battling Tom Brady.
A lot of bad football has been played over the past two years. Much of it due to the fact that the league is undergoing a transition at quarterback. That and a concern over the league saturating fans with too much bad football in primetime. Case and point being the gag-inducing Thursday Night Football venture they continue to promote.
Truth be told it’s not hard to see what’s killing Bears fan investment. They have no desire to watch a career backup quarterback run the show. Glennon may be a nice guy and a good leader, but they’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t end well. Chicago has endured this formula for over 30 years with little success to show for it. They’ve grown immune to that old sales pitch.
They know Trubisky is the future and aren’t going to part with their attention (or their money) until his time arrives. Sure there will always be the hardcore fans who watch regardless. Football though is a business built around hype. The more buzz it builds, the more money it makes. Chicago football is only buzzing right now because of Tarik Cohen. That’s great, but also not enough.
If they want to really jolt Bears fans out of their growing hibernation, they know what needs to be done.
