Promises be damned.
The Bears need to start their best quarterback in 2017.
Early indications are it is not Mike Glennon.
Beat reporters aren’t allowed to report who played well and who didn’t during organized team activities and minicamp practices but they’ve had a hard time hiding the fact that Glennon has struggled. And almost unanimously, they’ve “hinted” Trubisky looks like he belongs. If that continues to be the case, the Bears shouldn’t bother wasting time with Glennon.
Although he has 18 starts under his belt, Glennon isn’t exactly a known commodity. He showed promise as a rookie — at least in terms of being able to protect the ball — but regressed in his second year. The hope was that he improved under the tutelage of Dirk Koetter, but the Bears haven’t seen that yet. They shouldn’t wait.
The biggest knock on Trubisky was a lack of experience. He can’t fix that by sitting on the bench and watching Glennon struggle. Trubisky has the size to hold up to the physicality of the NFL and the ability to play right away. If he’s able to grasp the playbooks and adjust to the speed of the action, there really isn’t a good reason not to throw him in.
Forget about the fact that Trubisky played in a spread offense. He’ll have the quarterback/center exchange down after his first week in training camp and the Bears run a very quarterback-friendly passing game (see the 2016 production of M. Barkley and B. Hoyer). Trubisky executed full-field progressions in college and North Carolina utilized many of the same passing concepts that the Bears use.
I understand the desire for patience but this isn’t your father’s NFL. Or even your older brother’s NFL. We regularly see quarterbacks come into the league and play well as rookies. And there’s no shame in admitting you’re wrong on a quarterback. The Seahawks did it with Matt Flynn and they don’t seem to be regretting it. A team should NEVER play the wrong guy while the right one is sitting right in front of them.
Ideally, Glennon would be the best man for the job and play well enough that the Bears could trade him for a draft pick in the offseason. Ideally, the Bears wouldn’t have all that money sitting on the bench. But Trubisky is the future, not Glennon. If the latter’s struggles continue into training camp and the preseason, the Bears need to make the future the present.
