After acquiring Nick Foles from the Jacksonville Jaguars via trade this offseason, the Bears plan to have an “open competition” in Chicago at the quarterback position.
On a conference call this morning, Chicago general manager Ryan Pace said incumbent Bears starter Mitchell Trubisky would have to compete with Foles in order to keep his job. “With the addition of Nick Foles it’s exactly what we talked about from the start – we want to create competition,” Pace said. “We’ve talked to both players and it’s an open competition.”
Given what we’ve seen from Trubisky and Foles up to this point, that competition may not last long. The Bears were sold enough on Trubisky’s potential to be a franchise quarterback that they traded four future picks to move up and snatch him second overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Now entering his fourth season in the NFL, Trubisky has been largely inconsistent and regressed last year after having a fairly solid sophomore campaign. Foles hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency himself during his career but, thanks to a superb 2017 season that ended with him leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots, the 31-year-old should have no problem gaining the confidence of his teammates and Chicago’s coaching staff.
During the call, Chicago coach Matt Nagy said the quarterback competition was “going to be very transparent and very honest.”
“What we’re trying to do is what’s best for the Chicago Bears,” Nagy said. “Plain and simple.”
Though he originally expected to come into camp as Trubisky’s backup, Foles sounds as if he will relish the opportunity to regain the starting job he lost to rookie Gardner Minshew last year in Jacksonville.
“The opportunity to be a full-time starter and do those things is something any player would love to do in the right situation,” Foles said. “It’s an opportunity I’m excited for. Mitch and I have already talked and we want to start out on the right foot … Ultimately, it’s all about what’s best for the Chicago Bears.”
Whether it is Foles or Trubisky or even someone else, the Bears are desperate to get some stability at a position that has been woefully lacking in talent in their organization for decades. If it isn’t Trubisky who wins the job, it will also make it much easier for Chicago to decline to pick up the fifth-year option on the 25-year-old quarterback’s contract.
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