All eyes will be glued to the Chicago Bears’ quarterback competition between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Although we’ll have to wait until training camp to see — or hear — how it plays out.
With the shortened offseason — which has taken away valuable on-field work — the quarterback competition likely won’t begin until late July when the Bears kick-off training camp.
Bears coach Matt Nagy has already mentioned that this competition will carry into preseason, which serves to be the best judge of how these quarterbacks are working in this offense. But it sounds like this quarterback competition could last well into preseason.
According to Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer, Nagy told him that he’ll probably need to see more of Trubisky and Foles in preseason games than previously expected, given that they’ve lost a significant amount of on-field work this offseason.
“When you have the offseason, you have the OTAs, what Mitch is going to be able to do with the players is show his improvement at that position. What Nick is going to be able to do with the players on the field at OTAs is show who he is as a quarterback and what his strengths are. And now, Mitch isn’t gonna be able to do that, and Nick isn’t gonna be able to do that. So it’s gonna be very important, whatever time we’re given.
“It’s just a fact, there’s just not going to be as much time for that to naturally happen and for us to see it. It’ll all play itself out, and because there’s zero agendas in this thing, and because there’s complete honesty, it’s very healthy. Credit to both of these guys, Mitch and Nick, they’re both really good people.”
The Bears offense had an overall disappointing 2019 season, where they were one of the worst in the league, but quarterback was a big concern. In trading for Foles, they have someone that can effectively run this type of offense and someone that can challenge Trubisky.
When Chicago is able to get back on the practice field, Nagy said that Trubisky will be the first guy lining up under center. Perhaps the same will be said when preseason kicks off, where both Trubisky and Foles will be battling for the starting job.
With the shortened offseason and limited on-field workouts, more preseason time for guys battling for starting spots could be felt around the entire NFL.
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