The moment Nick Foles officially joined the Chicago Bears, most experts almost considered Mitch Trubisky an afterthought. This wasn’t a huge surprise. Foles is a former Super Bowl MVP with a ton of connections to the Bears coaching staff. There’s no way the team would invest that many resources if they didn’t plan on him eventually being the starter.
Head coach Matt Nagy though has squashed such an idea at every opportunity. He’s made it clear that Trubisky and Foles are on equal footing. This competition is wide open. The coaches aren’t going in with any assumptions. They’re going to give the job to the man who shows them in the coming months that he most deserves it.
“There’s no agendas … We’re going to give them every equal opportunity to go out there and win the job.”
That’s why Nagy even took it a step further, stating he planned to play both of them considerably in the preseason. Something he never did the previous two years. That shows how serious the team is about getting this decision right. Trubisky isn’t dead yet. He still has time to save his bacon before it’s too late.
The obvious question is this. How does he do it?
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Mitch Trubisky must execute with consistency
Last year, there were warning signs that Trubisky was heading towards a tough season. Throughout training camp, the quarterback developed a disturbing tendency to miss on a lot of throws. This resulted in interceptions or bad incompletions. Nagy at the time passed it off as the QB following instructions to be a little more aggressive than usual. Take chances on certain plays. Test to see if this or that works.
The problem with that explanation is it was impossible to tell what the “test” throws were and what were just bad decisions. This was further compounded by Trubisky not throwing a single pass in the preseason. So nobody was prepared for what happened opening night when Trubisky crapped the bed against Green Bay. That game proved that what was happening in camp wasn’t a product of coaching instructions.
He was legitimately struggling.
That should offer an idea of what must happen in the coming months. Trubisky will need to show he’s learned something. Executing the offense with consistency is paramount. He won’t be able to fall back on the excuse of playing against a great defense this time. Multiple turnovers in practice won’t be allowed. Trubisky has to start finding his receivers when they’re open and playing his position properly. Better footwork and better reading of what opponents are doing presnap.
Then if he can take that into a simulated game atmosphere during the preseason? People might actually start to take him seriously. If he looks anything like the player who ended 2019? One should not bank on him holding off Foles.
