NEWSLETTER
When the Bears started bringing in other quarterbacks to tryout for a spot on the depth chart, you had to know things were headed in the wrong direction.
And, indeed, they are:
No decision on surgery yet for the injury that affected both his labrum and rotator cuff. https://t.co/zcfWtHs2jO
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2020
In yet another sign that quarterback Mitchell Trubisky could miss an extended period of time, the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft is headed to Los Angeles to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache regarding his shoulder injury from Sunday. The good news is that this injury has been characterized as similar to the one he suffered in 2018, which did not require surgery and forced him to miss just two weeks. The bad news is that surgery is clearly still on the table and this is now the second time he’s hurt this shoulder.
Trubisky’s career has been riddled with fairly significant injuries to each of his shoulders. In 2018, he suffered a right shoulder injury against the Vikings in Week 11 that caused him to miss two games. A year later, Trubisky suffered another shoulder injury (also against the Vikings). This time, the injury to his non-throwing shoulder forced out of just one game because of a well-timed bye week. But ultimately, it led to offseason shoulder surgery.
Fortunately, Trubisky’s surgery went well, and we were told he was back to full, balanced health on both sides of his noggin before the 2020 season. Unfortunately, Trubisky hurt his shoulder again in his one-play cameo against the Saints last weekend:
REPORT: Mitchell Trubisky Hurt His Shoulder on His One Running Playhttps://t.co/3rjfmP9k28
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 4, 2020
Even though Trubisky is not the Bears starting quarterback, he still had a lot of value to this 2020 team. Matt Nagy could’ve conceivably used him on one-off run plays like he did on Sunday. And in a best-case scenario, it would lead to a Taysom Hill type of role like we see with the Saints. But more than that, Trubisky is a backup quarterback whose intimate familiarity with the system has real, non-zero value. In the event that Nick Foles gets hurt, this Bears team would be fortunate to have a backup like Trubisky. And that’s coming from someone who strongly believes Trubisky is clearly *not* the long-term answer for this franchise.
I’m not going to speculate further on the likelihood of surgery, because I don’t think anybody knows. But it’s a less than desirable update for an important backup. I suppose our hope for now is that he doesn’t need surgery and Foles doesn’t need any breaks from his starting gig. More when we know more.
