Before Nick Foles took a star turn as a college quarterback at Arizona, he played a season at Michigan State. A lot of football fans forget about that.
Then again, Foles is a guy who really gets around. The Bears are stop No. 6 on his NFL tour, which includes two stints in Philadelphia, where he won a Super Bowl.
One might suspect that a player who moves around so much is missing something in the relationship-building department. That certainly doesn’t seem to be the case with Foles, about whom kind things have always been said.
The other, more likely possibility is that he just hasn’t been good enough to lock down a starting job and, you know, keep it. That hasn’t stopped Bears fans from roundly thumbs-upping Foles’ replacement of Mitch Trubisky as the team’s QB1. In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we asked if Foles is better than Trubisky — and pretty much nobody said no.
Is that all because of his three touchdown passes to beat the Falcons in Week 3? Is it all about Trubisky fatigue? Whatever it is, there’s something about Foles that inspires confidence.
“I think it comes from winning,” he said. “It’s just when you step in the huddle, guys can feel your energy or your composure or whatever it may be. … That has happened throughout my career.”
Let’s hope it happens here, too. And that — the key to the whole operation — it lasts.
On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: Is Bears QB Nick Foles an upgrade over Mitch Trubisky?
Our weekly @suntimes sports poll is back. Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in our Sports Saturday edition.
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 1, 2020
Q1: Is Bears QB Nick Foles an upgrade over Mitch Trubisky?
Upshot: It’s probably a good thing we didn’t put out this poll in Jacksonville, where at least part of the reason for so-called “Minshew Mania” is that Gardner Minshew isn’t Foles. What happens if Foles throws a few picks or when his immobility hurts him on a key fourth-quarter drive? Goodness, what happens if — we said if — he actually loses a game? Until then, he’s the man.
Poll No. 2: Barring injury to Foles, will Trubisky start again for the Bears?
Q2: Barring injury to Foles, will Trubisky start again for the Bears?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 1, 2020
Upshot: Coach Matt Nagy has been clear that the job belongs to Foles; this isn’t a week-to-week thing. But we know better than that, don’t we? The NFL is nothing if not a week-to-week thing. Foles can’t play poorly and count on keeping this job. And if any QB knows what it’s like to live the on-again, off-again life, it’s Foles.
Poll No. 3: The 3-0 Bears take on the 2-1 Colts at Soldier Field on Sunday. Who wins?
Q3: The 3-0 Bears take on the 2-1 Colts at Soldier Field on Sunday. Who wins?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 1, 2020
Upshot: Vegas has the Colts as narrow favorites in this one, but what do those clowns know? Seriously, it’s hard to look at scores like 28-11 over the Vikings and 36-7 over the Jets and not be a little impressed. The Bears sure haven’t won any games that comfortably. Then again, our esteemed voters are never wrong.
