After five months of waiting to see who the Bears’ starting quarterback will be, it looks like the suspense will drag out a while.
Incumbent Mitch Trubisky and newcomer Nick Foles took turns in team drills at practice Monday, and coach Matt Nagy is in no hurry to shift toward one taking over the bulk of the snaps.
“We are going to stretch that out as far as we possibly can,” he said. “There’s limited reps, limited time, so we’re going to ... literally take it as far as we need to go. Both of these guys have experience in this game, and I think that’s only what’s fair.”
Fair, sure, but satisfying? Hardly.
Nonetheless, that’s the plan. The Bears will continue alternating the two as they work through the preseason. There are 13 practices remaining before the team begins preparations for its Sept. 13 opener at the Lions.
Foles and Trubisky have unofficially been making their case in walk-throughs and offseason Zoom meetings, but the real competition began Monday. Each of them was in for less than 20 snaps for 11-on-11 drills, and a large portion was run plays.
Amid that work, there were signs of frustration and hope. Early in practice, Trubisky forced one over the middle to Allen Robinson in triple coverage that fell incomplete. Foles came through later with a completion to new tight end Jimmy Graham in heavy traffic. Both had good and bad moments.
And even for those most eager to make a judgment on who leads the race, there wasn’t nearly enough evidence to identify that. Any prediction would still be based on what Foles and Trubisky did in seasons past, and neither is the runaway favorite based on that.
Trubisky played well enough for the Bears to cash in on their elite defense in 2018 and win the NFC North, then spiraled toward the bottom of the NFL last season. He was bottom-six in passer rating (83.0) and yards per game (209.2) and threw just 17 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.
That was enough for Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace to decide they no longer wanted to bet their future employment on him. So, in a world where Cam Newton was available for the veteran minimum, the Bears traded a fourth-round pick for Foles and signed him for three years, $24 million.
Foles casts an impressive shadow at 6-foot-6, 253 pounds and has a Super Bowl MVP trophy, but his overall résumé is choppy. He’s on his fifth team in nine seasons, has been a full-time starter twice and is coming off a frustrating stint in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars signed him to a four-year, $88 million contract, he suffered a broken clavicle in the first quarter of the first game (on a touchdown pass, no less) and was out until November. He returned for three games before being benched in favor of Gardner Minshew.
Trubisky bristled at the Bears stripping him of his place as unquestioned starter, but knew it was likely after how poorly he played last season. Both he and Foles have spoken highly of each other, and either figures to be a good teammate as the backup.
When asked specifically about Trubisky’s response to being thrown into a competition, Nagy noted an enhanced determination but also a willingness to coexist with his competitor.
“Whatever he’s doing, there’s just a great intention for him right now to play quarterback the best that he can and not worry about anything else,” he said. “Mitch right now is in a place mentally that I really just feel like is really good... I like where he’s at.”
That’s fine for Day 1, but eventually Nagy must decide whether he trusts him or Foles to turn the team around after a brutal disappointment last season. One of the two must set himself apart, and time is already running short.
