The Bears shouldn’t make a permanent change at quarterback no matter how bad it gets with Mitch Trubisky this season, but Matt Nagy needs to at least be willing to call in a reliever.
He said it “never crossed my mind” to turn to Chase Daniel as the game against the Saints began falling apart Sunday, even though Trubisky was in the midst of one of the worst performances of his career. He had a 63.9 passer rating before rallying in garbage time.
But Nagy stuck with Trubisky and he’ll do it again Sunday against the Chargers even if he struggles. He is philosophically opposed to yanking his quarterback for performance during a game.
“You’re committed,” Nagy said. “And for us, this is where we’re at with Mitch right now: We’re giving him every opportunity to be that leader and to go out there and make plays, along with every other position.”
It isn’t like every other position, though.
Quarterbacks are the most delicate players on the field and get more leniency short-term and long-term than anyone else. No cornerback in the league would be granted unwavering job security while playing as badly as Trubisky has.
And if the Bears weren’t worried about the fragility of his confidence — just like any other team is with a young quarterback — Nagy probably wouldn’t hesitate to make a change.
He might deny that. To his credit, he hasn’t sugarcoated Trubisky’s performance, but he has repeatedly steered the conversation away from him to talking points about the broader, collective failures of the offense.
“To sit there and point blame at one particular person right now is not fair,” Nagy said. “What we need to do as a team right now is we need to win, and we do that as a team. To me, that’s the simple solution.”
Sort of. If the Bears squeak by a 2-5 Chargers team at home and the offense keeps sputtering, does that actually solve anything?
It’s not that Daniel is decidedly better, though his numbers in two games this season outpaced Trubisky’s. Trubisky’s high end is still higher than Daniel’s, and he has long-range potential that’s worth developing if possible. That’s why they need to keep him as the starter even if Daniel goes in for him during a game on occasion.
Daniel is a 33-year-old with five starts in 10 seasons. The Saints, Chiefs, Eagles and Bears each had him in the building and determined that dependable backup was his ceiling.
But he could give the Bears a spark. It’s bizarre, but one thing he’s shown in the seven games he’s played here is that he’s actually better when thrust into action than when he gets advance notice.
When they went to him on the opening drive against the Vikings, Daniel kept the offense clicking and led the Bears to a touchdown. He completed 22 of 30 passes for 195 yards in a victory. Last season, he started against the Lions when Trubisky was injured and went 27 for 37 with 230 yards and two touchdowns to win.
While it surely is less stressful for Trubisky to know his coach will ride it out with him, he hasn’t earned that unconditional commitment. Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, for example, has accomplished more and was playing better this season, and he lost his job outright this month.
Let’s not go that far with Trubisky, but make a switch if he’s spiraling and the game is still salvageable. Nagy needs to have that as an option, and Trubisky needs to accept it if his play warrants benching. The Bears have too much at stake to tiptoe around their poor quarterback play, and all options should be on the table.
