Despite having four years of service time under his belt, it would be fair to say that Mike Glennon has limited NFL experience. After all, he’s played in just 21 games (18 starts) with 630 pass attempts.
But with that said, he has seen plenty of the Atlanta Falcons, who happen to be the Chicago Bears’ opponent on opening weekend. And to be even more fair to Glennon, his numbers in four starts against the Falcons are more than respectable:
Of course, Glennon hasn’t started against the Falcons since 2013, and things have changed a bit for Atlanta since then. Mike Smith is no longer the head coach, Steven Jackson isn’t getting carries out of the backfield, and Desmond Trufant is the only member of the secondary who remains from that team. But even still, that doesn’t mean that Dan Quinn, who is in his third year as the Falcons’ head coach, will take this matchup against the Bears’ lightly.
It’s worth pointing out that Glennon does have some experience against Quinn’s defense though, completing 17 of 23 passes for 168 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 123.1 rating in a 27-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on November 3, 2013.
So what can we take away from this set of data? Unfortunately, not much.
HOWEVER, it’s worth highlighting the value of playing mistake-free ball. In his four games against the Falcons and one game facing a Quinn-led defense, Glennon has thrown 125 passes and no interceptions. The Bears offense has committed at least one turnover in 24 of 32 games since John Fox took over as head coach, including 15 games with at least two.
For what it’s worth, Chicago is 4-4 when the offense plays turnover-free ball over the last two years, and 5-19 in games in which the offense coughs up the ball at least once.
So if Glennon can continue to play without giving the ball away, he has a chance to improve on those career numbers, and, more importantly, give the Bears a fighter’s chance at a Week 1 upset.