The biggest of the Bears fifth-year option decisions is now in the books:
The #Bears are declining the fifth-year option on QB Mitch Trubisky, source said.
The team has liked Trubisky’s attitude since the Nick Foles trade and it’ll be an open competition. A chance for Trubisky to make himself a lot of money before his contract expires next March.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 2, 2020
NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero reports the Chicago Bears are declining to exercise the fifth-year option on quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s rookie contract. The team had until May 4 to make a decision. Had Chicago’s front office decide to exercise the option, it would have (1) not been guaranteed and (2) been worth $24 million.
The decision isn’t one that I imagine came easy for the Bears, who traded up in the 2017 NFL Draft in order to secure the rights to draft Trubisky, then built around him with a talented defense, added worthwhile pieces on the offensive side of the ball, and hired a bunch of coaches steeped in quarterbacking knowledge in what is widely regarded as a QB-friendly system. To decline the option on a player in which the team has invested so much has to sting GM Ryan Pace and his staff.
A year ago at this time, Trubisky was coming off a season in which he made the 2018 Pro Bowl as an alternate and posted a 95.4 passer rating, and led the Bears to their first division title in quite some time. But Trubisky stumbled in 2019, putting together an up-and-down season in what turned out to be an 8-8 campaign.
We’ll have much to churn through in the coming days and weeks regarding the decision now that we have one. In the meantime, the quarterback competition between Trubisky and the recently acquired Nick Foles is officially on.