After the first preseason game, the Chicago Bears quarterback controversy is picking up steam as rookie Mitch Trubisky shined while Mike Glennon flopped.
Don’t look now, but the Chicago Bears might just have a quarterback controversy brewing between rookie Mitch Trubisky and veteran Mike Glennon. It’s admittedly a small sample size of less than a game for either of them. It’s Trubisky going against the Broncos second and third string defenses while Glennon started against the Broncos top-3 in the NFL defense. It’s a limited playbook and vanilla game planning. It’s also Trubisky running with the Bears second and third stringers instead of the starters.
In a vacuum, Trubisky looked every bit the part of an NFL quarterback despite it being his first live NFL action. The moment didn’t overwhelm him. He took command of the huddle and seemed to get everyone in the right spots. He threw with accuracy. He threw with poise. He scrambled and took care of the football.
Head coach John Fox isn’t ready to shuffle the deck chairs just yet:
"“Our depth chart is not going to change after one game,” he said, “particularly a preseason game.”"
Trubisky wrapped up the night going 18/25 for 166 yards with 1 TD and 0 INT’s while going 10/10 through a stretch. He led three scoring drives after the Bears were skunked before he entered the game with 1:55 left in the first half.
Glennon didn’t do himself any favors with his performance. He’s been looking over his shoulder since the Bears traded up to draft Trubisky in April. Glennon’s second pass harkened to the days of Jay Cutler, throwing a pick-6 on his second pass of the night. The starting offense didn’t help him much either. The usually reliable Cody Whitehair sailed a shotgun snap over the 6’6″ Glennon, the starting offense’s second giveaway of the night. It might be his year, but Glennon’s 2/8 for 20 yards and interception for a 0.0 QB rating only stokes the fires for Trubisky.
Trubisky is still listed at #3 on the depth chart, behind veteran Mark Sanchez. I think that’s just semantics. As you could see, when the Bears coaches saw a good opportunity to get Trubisky in there, they didn’t hesitate to put him into a 2-minute drill with a good opportunity to test him in a real situation. By putting him into a no-huddle situation, it just let Trubisky play. He didn’t have to put too much thought into it; just go out and make plays.
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Trubisky might go out against Arizona and throw two picks and fumble a center exchange while Glennon goes off for a couple of long TD’s. That’s how the preseason goes. I don’t think Trubisky is ready yet, but I think he’s at least earned the opportunity to get some reps as the #2 QB and get some reps with the top offense. It would also help him to get some reps against the Cardinals top defense.
Either way, this is a nice problem to have. The best that Bears fans can hope for is that Trubisky gets through the next couple of games healthy and keeps showing improvement until he gets the call. Until then, the Chicago Bears quarterback controversy will continue to grow.