When The Visor benched Mitch Trubisky during the week three game in Atlanta it was a common discussion to have about whether or not Mitch had played his last game as a Bear. Well, since there were 13 games left to play, the likelihood of Nick Foles breaking his career record of games started of 11 at the age of 31 was low. So we all figured we’d see Mitch again.
And, we did. After weeks of media speculation that captivated…nobody, really…about Nagy coming up with a Taysom Hill like package for Mitch, the Bears unveiled it, fittingly, against Taysom’s Saints. It consisted of one play. Mitch lined up–exotically–at quarterback, and ran the ball for three yards, fell down and hurt his shoulder.
At the end of the Bears sad Monday night loss two weeks ago to the Vikings, Foles got hit and looked like Granny Clampett when her “rumatiz” acted up.
Foles still hasn’t recovered from his sciatica or whatever the Vikings knocked loose, but Mitch is apparently healthy enough to play. This will upset all zero people who wanted to see Tyler Bray finally get an NFL start (from the looks of him during that panicked final drive against the Vikings, this includes Tyler himself).
But the Bears are going to Green Bay Sunday night for their annual beating with Mitch at the wheel again? Given how bad Foles has been, it really doesn’t make a difference, but I can’t believe we’re still doing this, nonetheless.
Usually when an NFL hasn’t officially named a starter, the oddsmakers are hesitant to post a line. They had no problem making the Packers 8.5 point favorites, though. Why? Well, does it really matter who the Bears start at QB? This isn’t like the difference between say, Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph. The difference between Mitch, Nick or Tyler is like waiting to decide to go to the county fair until you find out if the band is Stryper, Ratt or Cinderella. No matter who it is, they’re going to suck.
Now that legal apps are taking the majority of action, there’s really no reason not to cash in on the ultimate market inefficiency…the NFL forcing the Bears to use a quarterback.
Speaking of Roethlisberger, did you know the only two quarterbacks with multiple starts to still be undefeated this season are Ben (10) and Mitch (3)? Yeah, that’s going to change.
The only good thing that will come of him being led like a Mitch to the slaughter Sunday night (and think of how bad it would be if the Packers were actually any damned good?) is that seeing Trubisky again will remind the few remaining dopey Bears fans who think “the offense was better when the QB could use his legs” that yes, Mitch is faster than Foles (EVERYTHING is faster than Foles), he makes more mistakes than Nick, and does them faster.
Foles’ biggest problems don’t include getting the Bears in the right play or calling the right protection (two things Mitch is still crap at, even in his fourth NFL season). Foles’ problems are that eight years into his career he’s tired of getting hit, so the Bears terrible offensive line and him aren’t a great fit, and it leads to Nick doing the weird thing where he just starts back pedalling like Joe Namath in 1967 and winging the ball down the field in the general direction of other players.
Mitch will do that fun thing where he drops back, misses two reads, feels the pressure and inevitably spins towards the middle of the field in an attempt to scramble, only to run right into another defender and lose an extra six yards. When Mitch is holding a clipboard in Canada next season and we’re watching Jimmy Garoppolo QB the Bears (and saying, “Man, I actually used to think Jimmy was good.”) our memories of Mitch will be of him:
a) Being a nice boy.
b) Throwing six touchdowns against the Bucs that one time.
c) Killing drives by spinning into the middle of the field and falling down.
And probably something about driving his grandma’s Toyota Camry and convincing Ryan Pace to take the third team All-ACC quarterback second overall in the draft instead of the All-American from the same conference who won one National Championship game over Alabama and nearly won a second.
I just want the Mitch Trubisky err-a to end, and how can it if I still have to watch him play?