The Mike Glennon Era Must End Now

The Mike Glennon era needs to end… now.

No General Manager is perfect.

That’s an important sentence to keep in mind when analyzing the Mike Glennon debacle. And that’s what it is, a debacle. The reasoning behind the Glennon signing was sound. Bears’ fans didn’t realize it at the time, but Ryan Pace had a plan.

Mitch Trubisky was his guy. He knew that was going to be his selection in the draft. But he knew Trubisky’s experience was very limited, so he needed a bridge QB. He could have kept Jay Cutler, but keeping Cutler with a high-level prospect behind him was going to be a nightmare for every coach, player, and waterboy having to answer constant questions about the QB position, when the switch will be made, Trubisky chants after every interception, it couldn’t have happened.

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The Bears could have kept Brian Hoyer or Matt Barkley, but in the end, thought that Glennon probably offered a little more upside and might be able to be a more competent QB to run the Bears’ offense than the other two.

Pace was wrong and it happens.

First of all, put the money aside. The money Glennon received was nothing in the grand scheme of things. The second and third year have no guaranteed cash, and if somehow, Glennon was actually good, picking up those years would have had value. Pace gave Glennon a one-year deal at low-end starter money. We’re four games in, and obviously, that was a mistake.

The commitment to Glennon does not make Pace a bad GM and it certainly doesn’t mean he should be fired. If he hits on Trubisky, the Glennon games will be a footnote. If he doesn’t hit on Trubisky, Pace will be fired anyway.

Glennon was a mistake. It’s not the first mistake Pace has made as GM and it certainly won’t be the last. It’s time that Ryan Pace sits down with John Fox and admits that mistake and they, as a team, ask themselves, what is the best thing for this team moving forward?

The answer to that is clearly Mitch Trubisky.

Trubisky isn’t going to step in and look like Aaron Rodgers. He’s going to make mistakes. Plenty of mistakes. But he’s also going to make plays and he’s going to learn. His learning curve will certainly be better than if he just sits on the sidelines.

We all hear the reasons why not to play him- we could damage him long-term, he could get hurt, his growth as a QB could be stunted.

Enough with these excuses.

The Chicago Bears have a good offensive line. Fans don’t want to hear it, but they do. It’s definitely in the top half in the league and is probably top ten. They are a better run blocking unit than pass pro unit, so Bobby Massie is going to make Trubisky throw on the run sometimes, but nobody has the Washington Redskin Hogs. The Bears also have a good defense and a good running game. These are things that help a young quarterback.

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Sure, the receivers aren’t great, and they will drop balls and struggle to get open at times, but as it turns out, most QBs taken with the second overall pick go to teams with holes on the roster, that’s why the team is picking second.

Trubisky will make mistakes. All rookie quarterbacks do. John Elway had a passer rating of 54 during his rookie season. Peyton Manning turned the ball over 31 times his rookie year. There will be some pick sixes, there will be some missed opportunities, but that’s all part of the growing pains of having a young QB. But the sooner Trubisky is out there and learning from his mistakes, the sooner he will be ready to help this team compete for a playoff spot.

Ryan Pace made a mistake, but it’s not too late to remedy that mistake. It would have been better had they done it after the Tampa Bay game, but truthfully, if Trubisky was playing, they would have split games 3 and 4 like they did anyway.

It’s time for Pace, Fox and the entire organization to admit their mistake and play the kid. The Glennon era was a bad one, but it doesn’t have to be a long one. The Bears are Trubisky’s team now. Everyone knows it and it’s time the Bears demonstrate that they know it too.