Matt Nagy may have fundamentally changed the course of the Chicago Bears franchise last Sunday. That is what happens when one benches a former #2 overall pick for anything non-injury related. Mitch Trubisky was struggling. He looked way too much like the player that was so lost in 2019. Sensing his team was about to cave, the head coach decided to go with Nick Foles for the rest of the game.
When the longtime veteran sparked 20 unanswered points led by three touchdown passes, everybody saw the writing on the wall. Trubisky’s time in Chicago had come to an end. Yet what has so many people confused is the timing of it. The Bears were in no position to feel overly desperate. They were 2-0 going into the game. A loss wouldn’t have sunk their season. Why not give Trubisky more time?
Former NFL quarterback Greg McElroy was asked on ESPN Get Up about this. His theory was certainly eye-opening.
“It tells me that there is a disconnect between GM and coaching staff. So therefore if they had to make a decision about who their quarterback’s going to be moving forward, it had to happen in-game. Because if you actually watched Mitch Trubisky and his performance on Sunday? It really wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we’ve seen him at times over the past couple of seasons…
…So it tells me that it was a premeditated move by Matt Nagy and his staff, saying ‘hey we can’t do it in the week leading up because there might be meddling from the front office. So what should we do? We’ll do it on gameday and hopefully Nick Foles provides a spark for our offense.’ That’s exactly what happened and he’s going to be the guy moving forward.”
The Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace dynamic remains a hot topic
This isn’t the first time such an idea has floated around the Bears. Some out there believe Pace has quietly worked to keep Trubisky in the picture despite mounting frustrations from Nagy. The trade for Foles was a way to appease the head coach with a Plan B if Pace’s precious former #2 pick wasn’t able to turn it around.
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After three rocky performances to start the season, Nagy had seen enough. He wasn’t going to let Pace interject this time. Rather than wait for the start of next week, he inserted Foles right away. Much to his good fortune, the former Super Bowl MVP delivered. Now Pace has no leverage. No way to justify going back to Trubisky.
Is all of this true? Nobody can say for sure. It’s an interesting conspiracy theory. One that will gain traction if there are signs of tension between GM and coach in the coming weeks.