When the press conference following the end of the 2019 season wrapped up, the Chicago Bears presented a united front. That wasn’t a surprise. It’s something that is necessary in order to maintain cohesion within the building. So when GM Ryan Pace declared Mitch Trubisky the planned starter for 2020, nobody dissented. Including head coach Matt Nagy right next to him. They made it clear that this team had a vision for how they wanted to improve this offseason, and Trubisky was part of it.
Of course, what they say to the public and what they say behind closed doors are two very different things. Are the Bears brass truly 100% sold on Trubisky running the show again? This after a season where he managed just 17 touchdown passes and continued to make the same mistakes that have plagued his career since he got to the NFL. There is no way that can possibly be the case, right?
Well according to Bill Zimmerman, host of the Bears Banter podcast, it appears there is indeed some dissent inside Halas Hall.
Apparently at the top.
“I’m going to be honest. I hear a lot of smoke around the Chicago Bears and some people, particularly one person in the front office/coaching staff whatever you want to call it. A person of prominence with the Chicago Bears that is sour on Mitch Trubisky. I’m not going to get into specifics. You can speculate all you want. If you dig around some Miami stories, you can probably figure out who that is…
…Either one of two things are going to happen. Either the Bears are going to bring in some firm competition for Trubisky or somebody who is going to supplant Trubisky as the starter. Or there’s going to be a little tension within the Bears organization about the quarterback position.”
So who is this mystery Chicago Bears name?
Zimmerman works for Da Bears Blog, run by Jeff Hughes who’s had connections to the team in the past. Both men have shown at least some validity whenever they’ve made statements like this. It isn’t 100% confirmed, but it’s thicker than normal when it comes to smoke. So let’s ask the obvious follow-up question.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
If this is true, who in the Bears hierarchy is the Trubisky downer?
We can rule out both George McCaskey and Ted Phillips. While they are the two men at the top, Zimmerman made it clear this was coming from the coaching staff or front office. If we’re being honest here, it’s likely one of two names. It is either Pace or Nagy.
Why?
For starters, the entire offensive coaching staff was rebuilt. So it can’t be the offensive coordinator. Bill Lazor was barely hired a month ago. It’s probably not any of the team’s personnel directors either because they have no significant influence on whether or not a change can or should be made. That brings it to two men. The one who picked Trubisky and the one who’s directed his development for the past two years.
Knowing this, which of them is the more likely dissenter?
Based on the buzz that has trickled out over the past few months, the logical choice is Nagy. Multiple outlets around the NFL from Rich Eisen to ESPN indicated there is no way that Pace is ready to abandon Trubisky. Not after sinking four draft picks into getting him. Such is not the case with Nagy.
This is a coach who watched guys like Donovan McNabb and Alex Smith play the position. He knows how it’s supposed to look. He’s never said it publicly but anybody with a modicum of understanding body language has seen his frustration with Trubisky.
Don’t forget some of their tenser moments this past season.
Nagy has reiterated not once but twice to the media that the team really has to help the young quarterback get better with his footwork. Something a normal starter would have mastered by the end of his third season in the NFL. Given how important footwork is to this West Coast-style of offense, it unquestionably must drive the head coach nuts. To say nothing of Trubisky’s constant misfires to wide open receivers.
Nagy isn’t blind. He’s a former quarterback himself. He should be able to ascertain whether the kid has it or not. It would make all the sense in the world for him to be the one who has soured.
Obviously we won’t know if that dissenting voice is able to get a change to happen until things kick off in March.
