REPORT: John Fox Was “Open” to Making the Switch to Mitch Trubisky Earlier

Two starts into Mitch Trubisky’s professional career have yielded a pair of closely contested games, including his first win and the team’s first road triumph in 658 days.

Perhaps the Chicago Bears could have kickstarted the Trubisky Era sooner?

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that head coach John Fox has been “open” to making a QB switch for quite some time. Sources indicated to La Canfora that Fox was open to change weeks ago and was willing to bench Mike Glennon in favor of Mitch Trubisky before the team ultimately decided to do so after losing to the Green Bay Packers in Week 4. La Canfora adds Fox and his staff would have likely made the move earlier had it not been for the financial commitment it made to Glennon, and the organizational understanding that Glennon was going to get a shot first.

This isn’t the first time reports have surfaced regarding dissent between the Bears’ head coach and the front office. After the team made their move to land Trubisky, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen walked back a report insinuating Fox was left in the dark regarding the process that led to the Bears drafting Trubisky.

Long known as one of the league’s most conservative leaders, it would be very surprising to learn that Fox wanted to turn away from his long-standing tendencies and pull the early trigger on a quarterback change. In fact, even making the move when he did was a bit of a surprise considering his public support of Glennon. Moreover, it was his firm stance with Glennon during times when he could have gone to Trubisky that made it seem the rookie would continue to wait his turn for quite some time.

Fox raved about Trubisky’s development, progress, and upside, but leaning on a veteran early in the year while the rookie eased into the system seemed like a very Fox-y thing to do. And that’s what happened. It’s possible that Glennon’s turnover-prone ways early in the season helped accelerate Fox’s turn to Trubisky, who was held back as the team’s No. 3 quarterback during training camp before being elevated to second string before the regular season.

(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Alas, the move was made after the fourth game, and the team has been rewarded with two winnable contests – and hopefully, more to come. And we’re left to wonder just how early the switch might have been considered, and how the early season games may have proceeded in an alternate reality.

The Trubisky story will remain intertwined with Fox’s future with the Bears, and with the perceived success of the front office, who made a huge commitment to young quarterback by trading up to select him second overall this year. Perhaps Fox realized pretty early on in the season that Trubisky was going to give him the best chance to win games and extend his stay in Chicago.

Brett Taylor contributed to this post.

written by

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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