Chicago Bears: The hidden reason why Mitch Trubisky is starting

The hidden reason why the Chicago Bears are starting Mitch Trubisky

There is a very compelling reason why Mitch Trubisky should start against the Packers Sunday. Fortunately, this has now been confirmed as Trubisky had been practicing all week while Nick Foles had not taken a snap.  However, if the Chicago Bears needed a very powerful reason not to start Nick Foles, injury issues aside, there is one.

This reason is not only compelling but also ironic. It has to do with blocking but not the inept blocking of the Bears offensive line. The reason is Nick Foles is unable to block out his strong feelings of not trusting Matt Nagy as his boss on offense.

Foles showed how volatile his emotions can be in the Bucs game. He was livid with Nagy for calling a play that sabotaged the momentum the Bears offense had built as they got close to the goal line. Nick Foles was angry because Nagy called a play that required bringing in some players from the sidelines. This all led to a sack that led to a field goal instead of a touchdown.

Nick Foles’ sideline outburst towards Nagy gave me my initial insight as to why he is such a hot and cold quarterback. In another game, Foles threw a touchdown pass and as he came to the sidelines Matt Nagy put his hand up for a high five. His quarterback didn’t even look at him as he walked by his head coach. It seems as if the disconnect between them grew as Foles’ quality of play also deteriorated.

I was clued into this because I saw the same thing happen to the Bears offensive line in 2019. The more Nagy ignored the run last season the worse the Bears offensive line played. This all makes me conclude that Nick Foles is not good at compartmentalizing his feelings when that is what is needed. His trust problems also extend to his pass protection and not trusting his own ability to overcome poor pass protection.

I do not believe anyone can blame Foles for feeling plenty of mistrust in how Nagy manages the offense. Does anyone working in the NFL, the media or fans trust Matt Nagy to run the Bears’ offense? That would be a no. Nagy himself finally, conceded defeat and gave the play-calling over to Bill Lazor.

When all is said and done, the Chicago Bears continued ineffectiveness in pass protection is a good enough reason to start Trubisky but Foles’ state of mind is even more of a reason to make this change. So this all adds up to mobile Mitch Trubisky, Chicago Bears starting quarterback, the 2.0 version.

There is a lack of trust from both Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles with Matt Nagy

In terms of trusting Matt Nagy, I saw Trubisky have a similar lack of trust in his head coach going back to 2019. However, he was able to soldier on in spite of this. Trubisky had other issues that caused him to ultimately lose his job as the Bears starting quarterback.

Nick Foles was a different quarterback before he repeatedly had to deal with very poor pass protection from the Chicago Bears. When he first replaced Trubisky, he would fearlessly wait until the last second to throw the ball then take the hit. Now, he is seeing the ghosts of pass rushers before they get near enough to him to be a real threat.

There is another issue Nick Foles had to work through. He wants and needs his offense to often go uptempo. The other players on offense appear to want this as well. Yet Nagy still wanted to tinker until the last second before he called in a play. Nagy also continues to indulge himself slowing down his team’s momentum by sending in new players to line up for the next play.

All this nonsense broke Nick Foles and it plummeted the Chicago Bears into having the second-worst offense in the NFL. We don’t know how much Nagy is still influencing the play calls. However, so far giving the play calling to Bill Lazor did not fix the thing inside Nick Foles that very much needs fixing.

There is another irony in the disconnect between Nick Foles and Matt Nagy. The Chicago Bears head coach believed as far back as the offseason that Nick Foles was a better choice to run his offense. Matt Nagy’s reputation took a big hit from the poor showing of his offense in 2019.

In his time in Chicago, Matt Nagy has been wrong about a lot of things but his belief that Nick Foles was going to be the big fix to his offense could be one of his biggest, if not the biggest, miscalculation he has made as the Bears head coach.

It seems quite improbable but it is still entirely possible that Trubisky can transform the Bears offense from one of ineptitude to the level of mediocrity. This is not to discount that Trubisky and the Bears offense is capable of being better than mediocre. I believe there is more talent here than most have given them credit for having.

To back this assertion up, there is plenty of evidence that Coach Nagy has forced his players to adjust to his offense but did not adjust his offense to his player’s strengths. This has all led to the second-worst offense in the NFL behind the 0-10 New York Jets.

The good news for the Bears is a middle of the road offense can take them deep into the playoffs. The Bears have played very stingy defense for the whole season. Recently, they have gone from stingy to nasty. If they could add a few turnovers each game then they could ascend to the next level. They have the potential to be one of the best if not the best defense in at least the NFC and maybe the entire NFL.

All Trubisky and the guys on offense have to do is start scoring into the mid-20s or more and this whole season gets turned on its head. It should be noted that Akiem Hicks returning to good health would help all of this, enormously.

This is not to suggest the Bears will turn around their season enough to make the playoffs. However, they do have enough of a favorable schedule and more than enough talent if used properly to make the playoffs.