The Bears might not be done with quarterback Mitch Trubisky after all.
It seemed inevitable he would be out the door at the end of the season after the Bears declined their option on him for 2021, committed to what essentially was a three-year guaranteed contract for Nick Foles, then benched Trubisky in Week 3.
But unless the Bears are willing to blow up their roster and launch a full rebuild, there’s a decent chance they’ll want Trubisky back.
The coaching staff repeatedly has dropped hints that it thinks Trubisky might be the answer next season, regardless of what happens Sunday against the Packers. He dropped from a 95.4 passer rating in 2018 to 83.0 last season, then stumbled to an 87.4 before getting yanked for Foles.
But in five games since returning as the starter, Trubisky has shown what coach Matt Nagy calls ‘‘real’’ improvement. He has 10 touchdown passes, four interceptions and a 99.3 passer rating.
‘‘To perform like we’ve performed on third down recently, you can’t do that without [improved] quarterback play,’’ offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said, referring to the Bears converting 42% of their third downs in their last five games after converting only 31% in their first 10.
He zeroed in on what that uptick might signal in Trubisky’s career arc.
‘‘If you’re looking at the life span of a longtime quarterback, three, four, five years is still on the short end of it,’’ Lazor said. ‘‘Sometimes the third downs and the red-zone production and the two-minute offense are the last things to come.
‘‘I think that would be an indicator of Mitch’s improvement, and the hardest thing to do in football for the quarterback is to throw when they know you’re throwing.’’
There is no question Trubisky has played better lately than he did in the first three games, but it’s crucial to point out he has done it against weak defenses.
In his first game back, he put up most of his numbers after the Packers were ahead 41-10 and had the game in hand. After that, Trubisky feasted on the Lions (32nd in opponent passer rating), Texans (31st), Vikings (23rd) and Jaguars (30th). That matters. The level of competition raises doubts about whether Trubisky can sustain that success.
‘‘I guess we don’t have as much time on our hands to think like that,’’ Lazor said.
It’s fine to be snarky about that now, but the Bears will have to start thinking like that as soon as the season ends.
They’ll have to decide whether they think Trubisky is on the cusp of hitting his stride heading into his fifth season in an era when quarterbacks — Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, among others — often stamp themselves as stars much more quickly. Chargers rookie Justin Herbert is putting together a better season than Trubisky ever has had.
If Nagy and Lazor keep their jobs, they sound inclined to hang on and see whether Trubisky finally can get it together. The Bears could use the franchise tag — OverTheCap projects the number for quarterbacks to be $26.8 million — or hope Trubisky will take something similar to the two years and $17.6 million the Raiders gave Marcus Mariota.
Nagy loves the story of Alex Smith and tells it often as a roadmap for Trubisky. Smith never has been the kind of star the Bears covet, but he became a viable quarterback in his seventh season. That’s a long wait. Even five seasons is a long wait.
The Bears have to have honest discussions about whether Trubisky truly is headed there, as well as a debate about whether his ceiling is high enough to make that wait worthwhile. Trubisky has spent all season trying to prove he’s on the right track, and his biggest opportunity to sway that conversation comes Sunday.
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January 01, 2021 at 05:46AM
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Bears seem to be warming to idea of QB Mitch Trubisky returning in 2021 - Chicago Sun-Times
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