It appears the NFL and NFLPA are moving closer to an agreement on how to handle the 2020 season’s training camp and season logistics. That’s the good news.
The bad news, at least for the Chicago Bears, is that agreement includes cancelling all preseason games, which means the quarterback competition between Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles will have to be settled in practices. There won’t be any live reps against other teams in a controlled competitive environment to evaluate from.
The 80-man roster is also a bit of a blow for players around the league — late round draft picks, undrafted players, and fringe-veterans on the bubble will now be at risk of getting released before camp. That’s 320 players who would’ve otherwise had an opportunity at camp who will no longer have that opportunity. Rough times.
With that, let’s reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thanks to all who submitted questions; I always appreciate the participation! Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
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Mailbag
To elaborate on this one further — while Nick Foles has experience in Matt Nagy’s system and has proven he can execute it at a high level, there’s a lot to be said about chemistry with receivers and even the offensive line. Mitch Trubisky has had the benefit of gathering with some of his teammates and practicing and keeping the chemistry ‘alive’ (for whatever that’s worth). Foles hasn’t had that opportunity, and it will take him some time to acclimate. Trubisky generally practices well enough where the discrepancy in performance with Foles shouldn’t be TOO apparent in training camp — and there is no preseason outlet to show off his significantly worse decision making. So I’d expect Trubisky to have a leg up going into practice and show well enough to win the job for Week 1. How quickly he plays himself out, though, remains to be seen.
