NEWSLETTER
It’s a matter of when, not if Mitch Trubisky unseats Mike Glennon as the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback.
What – at one point – looked to be something that might not be a thing until 2018 is now rapidly approaching. Indeed, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network makes it seem like a Bears QB change is coming sooner, rather than later.
“They have not had the discussion yet of replacing him with Mitchell Trubisky,” Rapoport said of the Bears prior to Sunday’s win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “But make no mistake, they think Trubisky is the best quarterback of all the rookies, so it is only a matter of time.”
Well, first of all: I sure hope the Bears believe they have the best rookie quarterback after trading multiple picks to move up one spot to ensure no other team would move up ahead of them and take Trubisky with the second overall pick. But I digress.
Rapoport says the Bears like what Glennon has provided so far, adding the team believes he has played well on a snap-for-snap basis, but the mound of mistakes piling up seems to be a concern for a team with an offense rooted in ball control and rushing efficiency. Indeed, on Sunday, Glennon was nothing more than a care-taker during the Bears’ 23-17 overtime win over the Steelers. He handed the ball off 35 times and threw just 22 passes as running backs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen put the offense on their backs and ran to a victory.
We recently explored the various possibilities of when the most ideal time would be to let Trubisky play, though you can cross Thursday’s game against the Packers off the list, as head coach John Fox told reporters it would be a “fairly proper assessment” when asked if Glennon was the Week 4 starter.
Pinpointing a game, of course, could be difficult, because the organization needs to strike a balance between the right time for the team and the proper time to take Trubisky’s development to another level. Trubisky has handled the duties of the second-string quarterback, though he admits there is still a learning curve he’s handling.
On top of the normal duties of a second-stringer, the Bears have tasked Trubisky with being the scout team quarterback. Hopefully, there is value in Trubisky playing the (previous) role of Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston, and Ben Roethlisberger in practice.
Glennon’s performances have been underwhelming since his surprising fourth-quarter rally attempt against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1. His stats in each of the last two games are rather disheartening. Glennon has completed an impressive 68.7 percent of his pass attempts in the last two weeks, but has also posted a 75.6 quarterback rating and averaged a lowly 6.0 yards per attempt, as well as an adjusted yards per attempt average of 4.8 yards. He has also been hesitant to get his receivers involved, relying mostly on running backs and tight ends to make plays in the passing game. It’s fair to suggest the Bears’ offense can’t scheme around Glennon’s deficiencies forever.
While there is a rightful focus on Trubisky’s development, Glennon needs to take a step forward, too. If he doesn’t, his time as Bears starter could be over sooner than anyone expected entering the 2017 season.
