The Chicago Bears starting quarterback competition will last until head coach Matt Nagy has to make a decision. Over the weekend, Nagy indicated that he would not name a starter before the team's opener against the Detroit Lions. However, the coach has since clarified those remarks, saying that he will, in fact, announce his decision between Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky in the week leading up to the opener.
"What I meant, to keep it real simple, was that there was not going to be a quarterback named this week that we're in right now," Nagy said Monday, via the official team website. "So I apologize if I made that gray. But there will be no waiting until the middle of the week or the end of the week for that to happen. That wouldn't be fair to our team and it wouldn't be fair to the quarterbacks."
Nagy declined to say whether Trubisky or Foles has performed better in camp, but did point to next Monday or Wednesday being the time that he'll announce his decision of who'll be QB1 in Chicago.
"Honestly, we don't know that," Nagy said. "But it would be in that timeframe in there somewhere. You will know by the time most teams usually know. We're not hiding anything. We're going through, for us, this whole process and we don't even know that yet to be quite honest. So we're talking through those situations and what's best and how to go about it. So we're just really honestly not there yet."
The Bears could be committed to Foles given the reworked contract the former Super Bowl MVP received this offseason. Foles has three years and $24 million remaining on his contract, with $21 million still guaranteed. He can also void the 2021 and 2022 seasons based off performance, granting him the ability to seek more money if he has a good season in Chicago. Of course, winning the starting quarterback job will go a long way toward Foles accomplishing the task.
Chicago also has a reason to stick with Trubisky for another season, just three years after the franchise traded up and selected him No. 2 overall. Trubisky greatly regressed in 2019, with his completion percentage falling from 66.6% to 63.2%, touchdown passes from 24 to 17, and yards per attempt from 7.4 to 6.1 -- the lowest amongst the 32 quarterbacks that qualified for that statistic in the NFL. Trubisky's 17 touchdown passes was the lowest among quarterbacks who started 15 games, and his touchdown percentage of 3.3% was the third-lowest in the league.
In three seasons, Trubisky is 23-18 as a starting quarterback, completing 63.4% of his passes for 48 touchdowns to 29 interceptions for an 85.8 passer rating. He is playing under the fifth-year club option on his rookie contract, so Trubisky's future in Chicago hangs on winning the starting quarterback job.
Whether Nagy chooses Trubisky or Foles, the Bears are seemingly keeping that decision as close to the vest as possible, but we're getting close to the doorstep of what that eventual call will be as Chicago steps into the 2020 season.
