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Hitting the ATM: The Mitch We Already Know.

| September 1st, 2020

After visible training camp practices concluded Saturday, nearly ever beat reporter had Nick Foles ahead of Mitch Trubisky in the team’s quarterback competition. That tells us all we need to know about Trubisky.

(In fairness, those on the Bears beat are hardly experts when it comes to judging quarterbacks and nobody has any actual idea what the Bears are looking for. But all reports have indicated that Trubisky has yet to grow out of the maddening inconsistencies that led to Foles being acquired in the first place.)

Whether it’s running out of bounds for a two-yard loss instead of throwing the ball away, making questionable decisions or throwing scattershot incompletions and interceptions, Trubisky has seemingly looked exactly like the player he has been throughout his career.

That might be surprising to some because there was at least a portion of the fan base that thought Trubisky’s faults weren’t actually his in the first place and blamed his shoulder injury, which came after he already had three mostly bad showings, as well as his offensive and his skill players and the moon and the stars. Even for the more realistic fans, there was at least some hope that Trubisky would be more motivated this year. In a contract year, with a challenger looking him in the face, how could Trubisky not be at his best?

Well maybe we’ve already seen his best.

Then there was also the hope surrounding his offseason work. He had a new trainer and a new quarterback coach, both claiming to have fixed the flaws of the young quarterback. By all accounts those flaws remain.

Despite Trubisky having the advantage of having been the incumbent and being able to work with receivers in the offseason, Foles unofficially leads. Most on the Bears beat have had Foles ahead of Trubisky in each of the last four practices, which seems to be an indication that the veteran quarterback is pulling away in the competition. It could end up being the easy decision offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said he wanted.

It’s possible that the Bears have the competition graded differently, but that seems unlikely. It would also be hard to believe that the comfort each of the offensive decision-makers has with Foles won’t weigh heavily into the decision. If Trubisky were to start the opener, it’s more likely an organizational decision than a coaching decision. Pace made sure everyone knew he would have a vote and, considering he is Nagy’s boss, that’s likely a majority one.

But there’s no reason to believe a different version of Trubisky will show up. If that player existed, we would have seen him by now. If Trubisky were capable of reaching his potential and playing consistently, he wouldn’t need the regular season to start before showing it. And if he were capable of being the player Pace thought he was drafting, he wouldn’t be losing a competition to Foles with his career on the line.

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