Even with Bears coach Matt Nagy continuing to delay naming a starting quarterback, there’s little doubt it’ll be Mitch Trubisky against the Packers on Sunday.
Trubisky ran the offense again Thursday as Nick Foles sat out with a hip injury. While Foles has been working on drop-backs and other mobility drills with the training staff, he hasn’t practiced since getting knocked out of the Vikings game last week.
It’s obvious to everyone, especially the Packers, that the Bears expect to go with Trubisky.
“They see the injury report,” offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said. “I’m not sitting in their staff rooms with them, but I’m sure [defensive coordinator Mike] Pettine is making his plans based on the best guess.
“I don’t think anything is hidden. I don’t think there are any secrets. I think everybody understands who practiced and didn’t and what Mitch’s great abilities that he brings are.”
Nagy’s reason for postponing what seems like an inevitable announcement appears to be out of respect to Foles, which is prudent given that he might need him again this season and he’s under contract through 2022.
While he has been upfront that he is weighing health along with Foles’ recent play, he appears to be mindful of how a performance-based benching might affect him. It’s cleaner and easier if Foles’ injury takes the decision out of Nagy’s hands.
“We’re still kind of evaluating where [Foles] is at, and I think that’s the only fair thing,” Nagy said. “Mitch is obviously doing well health-wise. I feel good with where he’s at physically with the way he’s throwing and all that stuff.”
Trubisky had been out since injuring his throwing shoulder on his lone play as wildcat quarterback against the Saints on Nov. 1. He appears to be full-go.
Nagy indicated he planned to make a final decision after practice Friday, when the Bears are required by the NFL to give an honest assessment of any injured player’s likelihood of playing. If the Bears do not rule out Foles, they would be required to announce whether he travels with the team Saturday.
If he is inactive, the Bears will proceed with Tyler Bray as the back up and could promote practice squad quarterback Kyle Sloter as an emergency option.
Bray has thrown six career passes in eight seasons, and five of those were in the final minute against the Vikings. Sloter, who has yet to appear in an NFL game, has been with the team a little over two weeks.
Nagy pulled Trubisky in Week 3 after he threw an interception that led to the Bears falling behind 26-10 in Atlanta. Foles replaced him and threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to win.
Since then, Foles has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. He is 28th in passer rating at 81.0, six points below where Trubisky was at when he lost his job. Nagy has said, “It’s all on the table,” when it comes to the two quarterbacks and dodged the question this week when asked whether a healthy Foles would automatically be his starter against the Packers.
His comments the last two days inched as close as he could to declaring Trubisky the starter without going all the way, but he held open the possibility of Foles changing his mind Friday.
“Do you feel the pain and is there any aggravation and what’s the magnitude, for instance, when you’re dropping back and you plant?” Nagy said. “If you drop back and you plant, are you feeling it? If you go to throw to the left, right, what’s it feel like? Those are the things that they’re working through... The better it gets, the more we’ll know.”
But we already know, don’t we?
