The Chicago Bears breathed a little bit of life back into their season by surviving the New York Giants last Sunday at Soldier Field. No, I don’t mean that they’re back in playoff contention, but they created a chance to get to .500 (6-6) tomorrow if they beat Detroit. And then, they can theoretically tackle the remainder of their season with some renewed vigor.
Beating the Lions, who don’t have Matthew Stafford again AND JUST LOST TO WASHINGTON, should be easy in theory, even on the road. But, it’s the Bears. They struggled to put away the Lions at home the last time AND just barely beat the Giants. So who knows?
It’s easy: Win, and the Bears are 6-6 and feeling better about themselves heading into the final month. Lose, and all bets might be off.
With that, I reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions — always appreciate the participation. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation. And Happy Thanksgiving (and safe travels) to everyone!
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Mailbag
I’ll start by saying this: Betting the farm on Mitch Trubisky next year without any competition just isn’t smart. I think everyone is aware of this. The front office, coaches, players, fans, media, etc. have all seen what Trubisky is, and it isn’t good. They can’t justify rolling with him blindly next year without taking a lot of heat.
So you can expect competition to be added in the off-season. I’ve maintained for some time that I expect the Bears to double-down: Add a veteran who can push Trubisky sufficiently in camp (see the next question below for whom I think they could look at from a veteran perspective), and also add a rookie QB through the draft. Which round they add him from will depend entirely on how their board stacks up. That’s been Ryan Pace’s M.O. since the start.
If Trubisky is able to win the competition, then that’s fine. At that point, rolling with Trubisky is “justified”. But I don’t anticipate him winning it. He’s talented, but lacks the mental acuity to be a consistently good QB in this league. It’s unfortunate.
It’s looking likelier and likelier that Mitch Trubisky will at least be a part of the QB room in 2020. And I think that’s fair — even though he’s a lousy starter, he’s an excellent leader and, reportedly, great to work with in the QB room. So he can add value to the team. And he can, in theory, be a strong backup in case that’s the role he’s relegated to.
From a QB competition perspective, I anticipate at least one veteran and one rookie QB to be brought in. From a veteran perspective, a lot has to be decided. For example, which QBs will be released from their current contracts? Which QBs will be re-signed (e.g. Ryan Tannehill?)
Right now, the hottest name seems to be the Saints’ Teddy Bridgewater. He’s young, smart, and makes good decisions. The issue is, his contract will be astronomical and he isn’t quite AS good as his contract will be. In my opinion, Marcus Mariota is a better fit and a more talented QB, and will likely fall in the right price range that the Bears can afford.
There is very little chance the Bears will let Matt Nagy go, in general. He’s just done way too much good in terms of building a culture and respect amongst his players.
That said, if something goes completely awry and the Bears need to make a change at head coach, that likely means they’re also making a change at general manager, too. So we’d have to consider the new GM’s background and philosophy before knowing who the new head coach would be. Therefore, it’s hard to speculate.
That said, a college coach is *possible* but I still find it unlikely, unless Lincoln Riley or David Shaw make themselves available.
I, for one, think it’d be fun to watch. The potential mismatches would be incredible, and the Bears have been so awful at tight end, that literally anyone could be better than the production the Bears have received so far. And Cordarrelle Patterson himself seems to think he could do it, as he’s mentioned a few times.
I just don’t see it happening at the moment, though. There are a lot of details at TE from a protection scheme perspective that will be hard to just plug-and-play, especially because Patterson hasn’t been in those meetings with the tight ends. But if the Bears keep Patterson on the roster next season (due to cap hit constraints, it’s possible they may not), maybe it’s something they can introduce over the off-season and training camp.
