The Chicago Bears are doubling down on quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Here's why it will enrage the Bears' fanbase. | Image: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/AFP
For fans of football teams like the Chicago Bears, this is the best time of the year. The season is over, management has time to review personnel, and if they are honest, they make some much-needed changes. In the process, they give fans something they can hold onto until the next season starts—hope.
With the announcement that Bears GM Ryan Pace made today, it’s clear the Chicago Bears are not too concerned with giving the fans hope for the future.
Mitchell Trubisky is going to be back under center in 2020. Yes, Bears fans, he is still your quarterback (but at least he can chug a beer, right?).
During a press conference Tuesday morning , Bears GM Ryan Pace made a disappointing but not surprising announcement—Trubisky was not going anywhere. He was going to remain the team’s starting quarterback. To make matters worse, there would not be any competition brought in to challenge him.
He’ll look for capable backups, but no starters.
It didn’t seem to matter that Trubisky was wildly inconsistent this season and regressed in just about every relevant statistical category from his second season. The fact that the offense was one of the worst in football and Trubisky the least productive passer didn’t seem to matter.
The Bears are staying the course. Matt Nagy will even be calling the plays again.
Pace admitted Trubisky needs to be more consistent and has room to grow—and needs to. He also preached the need for patience .
What he forgets is that the Bears fan base is still fresh off the Jay Cutler Era. What patience they had was exhausted while making memes of ‘smoking Jay Cutler.’ They had to do something to keep their sanity during those trying times.
When they finally got out from underneath Cutler’s contract, an immense weight was lifted off the shoulders of the fanbase.
So, they trusted Pace when he said Trubisky was the guy they’ve been looking for. Maybe fans just need to follow Trubisky’s example and turn off the TV whenever the Bears are on.
Then again, the last time Pace was excited about a quarterback (Mike Glennon), that didn’t last. Maybe his fascination with Trubisky will have a similar fate.
Three years later, the team is no longer a bad one held back by a sub-par quarterback. It’s a mediocre one, that is still held back by a sub-par quarterback.
So– that’s progress, right?