There’s an admirable sense of captaincy from Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, and it’d be wrong for him to express any uncertainty about his position after three years as the starter.
So even after watching his team say one thing — “We believe in Mitch,” is practically a catchphrase for general manager Ryan Pace now — and do another this offseason by trading for and paying Nick Foles, he views himself as the leader. Even after his team set an exit date for him by declining his fifth-year option, he believes he’s the future.
“I know we’re going to push each other,” Trubisky said of Foles on Friday, “but I still feel like this is my team.”
It’s less Trubisky’s team now than it was the day the Bears drafted him. No matter how much he wants to think of the upcoming quarterback competition as Foles trying to take his job, it’s probably the other way around.
While Foles is no juggernaut himself, having bounced among five teams over nine years, he’s the early favorite to start. The Bears obviously hoped he’d be an upgrade when they traded for him. Pace and coach Matt Nagy won’t say it, but it also works in the organization’s favor financially if Foles takes over and provides a bridge to the next rookie quarterback in 2021 or ’22.
And then there’s the city. Which guy would you guess Chicago is rooting for to start the season opener after watching Trubisky the last three seasons?
In less than three calendar years, he went from prized pick of the draft to battling a journeyman for his job with a very uncertain free agency looming next.
After a supposed breakthrough season in 2018, when he had the scariest defense in the league and boosted his stats with one big game against the Buccaneers, Trubisky fell flat with an 83.0 passer rating, 17 touchdowns and just 209.2 yards per game. The Bears were bottom nine in team passer rating, touchdown passes, yards per attempt and total production.
As Trubisky said of the team declining his option, “I had it coming.”
He said plenty else in his first time talking to the media since everything went down, and most of it sounded great. Most of it was forward-minded and determined — all of it streamlined toward being able to “play at a different level.”
But the best and worst thing about Trubisky is that he’s already been doing that. It’s to his credit that he’s done nothing but work and study his hardest and made every attempt to get it right. It’s also an indictment that he just isn’t good enough.
“I’m very driven and motivated to do a lot more than I did last year,” he said.
But hasn’t he always been driven? Isn’t his work ethic and the amount he cares the reason his teammates still respect him?
“[I’ll] push myself in ways I haven’t pushed myself before, in the film room, knowledge of the offense, mechanics and footwork, and holding myself to a whole new level, so I can... play the way that I believe I’m capable of playing,” he said.
“I just feel like I’m in a good mental space right now. I feel like I’m very locked in... so the sooner we can get back and get back with my teammates, the better. I can’t wait.”
It doesn’t seem like there is a next level for Trubisky. That’s the hard truth he keeps tripping over when it counts. We heard most of the same things throughout the lead-up to last season, when Nagy couldn’t say enough about his progress, only for it to come crashing down on opening night.
