The future of Mitch Trubisky is going to be one of the hottest topics in Chicago sports over the next several months. Not just for the Chicago Bears. His 2019 season can best be described as a disappointment, and that’s being kind. He was in the second year of an offense for the first time. Experience was no longer a drawback. He’d come off one of the better performances of his career in the playoffs. All signs pointed to him have a strong season. With one game left, his season passer rating stands at 82.9.
Three times this season the Bears offense has failed to score more than seven points in a game. None of those games were against a top five defense either. His struggles are glaring and impossible to ignore. Trubisky is still a good athlete who can make the occasional wow plays, but his maddening inconsistency remains. The overthrowing of wide open receivers. His inability to see the field properly. An unwillingness to attack down the field more often. At what point do the Bears say they’ve seen enough?
According to two-time Super Champion exec and Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, that time has not arrived yet. He believes the team will see this exercise through one more year, keeping Trubisky as the starter and picking up his 5th-year option just in case.
“After a disastrous first half of the season, Trubisky has shown enough promise lately to remain Chicago’s starting quarterback entering the 2020 season. For that reason, it’s worth locking him in for 2021. But given the prices quarterbacks demand, I’d wait to take the plunge on a commitment that lasts any longer until Trubisky can show more consistency.”
Mitch Trubisky is operating on borrowed time now
While some are done with Trubisky at this point, the fact is the Bears aren’t in the best position to do anything about it. They have no 1st round pick in 2020 and their salary cap situation isn’t any good for making a strong push for a free agent. They might be able to find some competition on the veteran market or with one of their 2nd round picks, but that doesn’t feel like it will move the needle. So in effect, they’re basically stuck with him. They can either whine about it or do their best to make it work.
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The 5th year option idea is merely a precaution in case Trubisky was to somehow turn the corner next year. Then they’d have him under contract and would be able to work from there. Not a terrible plan but also not the one a lot of Bears fans want to hear about. They’re tired of this offense being mired in mediocrity. Keeping him as the starter won’t sound like any sort of solution to the problem. Yet that is the hole they’ve dug for themselves.
