After months of speculation about whether Nick Foles or Mitch Trubisky would be the Chicago Bears quarterback in 2020, coach Matt Nagy picked Trubisky to be the starter.
Nagy and the coaching staff sat down Thursday and Friday to pore over film of every practice snap the two quarterbacks took. The competition that was shortened and squeezed into about a month of on-field practice time finally has its victor, and the Bears finally have their quarterback to lead them back to the playoffs.
Right? ... Right?
Well, maybe not if history is to be consulted.
The Trubisky-Foles quarterback competition was one in a long list of such battles in Bears annals.
Among the more recent were Kyle Orton-Rex Grossman in 2008, Shane Matthews-Cade McNown-Jim Miller from 1999 to 2001, Erik Kramer-Rick Mirer in 1997, Kramer-Steve Walsh in 1995 and Jim McMahon-Mike Tomczak-Jim Harbaugh in 1989.
Even in seasons that weren't played through a pandemic that could sideline players at any time, not many of the victors of previous Bears quarterback competitions played full seasons because of either injury or underperformance. Kramer did in 1995, and Orton came close with 15 starts in 2008.
Few found the type of success during the season their coaches hoped the battle would draw out. Only one of the seven aforementioned teams _ the Jim Miller-led 2001 Bears _ made the playoffs, and just three had winning records. And, as we all well know, no quarterback emerged from the competitions to become a long-term success, setting up the Bears for a decades-long search to find their next great quarterback after Sid Luckman's career ended in 1950.
Former longtime Tribune writer and Bears historian Don Pierson was up close for several of the battles, and he doesn't see history as a good sign for the current situation.
"I don't think any quarterback competition or controversy is desirable," he said. "I think it just reflects a weakness. I can't remember a time that it has ever turned out to be in any way beneficial for any length of time for the Bears. You know that old saying, 'You think you have two quarterbacks, that means you really have none.' That's been their history, and I can't help but think that's sort of the situation now."
Nagy, however, insists that while picking Trubisky wasn't the clear-cut answer coming out of camp, the result still can work out.
"Sometimes people say, 'Well if you have two quarterbacks, that means you don't have any. If you have three tight ends, that means you don't have any,' " Nagy said. "But we know what we have in these guys. We feel really good about both of them. Being as brutally honest as I could be, it's difficult (to pick)."
So what have we learned from past Bears competitions?
