Bears decline Trubisky’s fifth year option

[UOK]

Prove it year for him or he’s gone.

[Rusty Trombagent]

i dont personally have any interest in relitigating the choice of mitch in the draft 4 years ago, but my biggest concern going into the season was that our staff would double down on mitch. i am glad that they are tacitly admitting the mistake.

[docc]

Yep... He does well..new contract..Franchise tag..or not...hiway..

[IotaNet]

i dont personally have any interest in relitigating the choice of mitch in the draft 4 years ago, but my biggest concern going into the season was that our staff would double down on mitch. i am glad that they are tacitly admitting the mistake.

I think Pace had to do this ... his seat is getting awfully hot. He needs to unhook himself from the Trubisky pick as soon as possible to retain any measure of credibility I this town.

[Mikefive]

Various reports....
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/ ... y/2265580/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2020 ... s-contract
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bear ... er-report/

[The Cooler King]

Right call.. Franchise/transition tag there as a fail safe if he proves all the doubters wrong. Narrow possibility of leaving a debit in the comp pick category.

[dplank]

Right move IMO

[crueltyabc]

Well if you didn’t think the Foles contract structure told you what the brass thinks about Mitch, this should.

Foles is the bridge. The next real bears qb is coming in the 2021 draft

[The Grizzly One]

Mitch Trubisky is good kid. I will be strongly rooting for him in game one. But sadly I don't think he has what it take to even be an average NFL QB. But I hope he proves me wrong.

But thankfully we will have Foles to the rescue and he will be above average for the Bears, That means, I truly believe, it 's time for:

[Otis Day]

Thank goodness. He isn’t worth half of what they would have had to pay. Pace correcting some wrongs, which is good and unfortunate at the same time.

[The Cooler King]

Mitch Trubisky is good kid. I will be strongly rooting for him in game one. But sadly I don't think he has what it take to even be an average NFL QB. But I hope he proves me wrong.

But thankfully we will have Foles to the rescue and he will be above average for the Bears, That means, I truly believe, it 's time for:

I think hes average as QB league wide. Not an average starter, mind you, but average overall.

He has "middling 8 year backup career with fluky good 2028 season" written all over him IMO.

[Mikefive]

Well if you didn’t think the Foles contract structure told you what the brass thinks about Mitch, this should.

Foles is the bridge. The next real bears qb is coming in the 2021 draft

A very real possibility. A bad outcome. But a real one.

For the record, I not only like Mitch, I think he'll prove to be a better than average starting NFL QB someday. Maybe more. I just don't know when that time will come. Mitch has always been a long term project and continues to be. It's not uncommon for QBs to take years for the NFL game to slow down for them. The problems are that being the #2 pick comes with expectations that that's not going to happen and our team isn't built to wait.

[dplank]

Foles has two good years, I’m betting on a third in 2020

[G08]

I think if they picked it up it was $25 million, right? No way in hell you give him that money based on what he has done thus far in his career.

This truly is put up or shut up for Mitch Trubisky.

[Mr.Irrelevant]

He has "middling 8 year backup career with fluky good 2028 season" written all over him IMO.

Just hope that "fluky good season" isn't 2020

[mmmc_35]

i dont personally have any interest in relitigating the choice of mitch in the draft 4 years ago, but my biggest concern going into the season was that our staff would double down on mitch. i am glad that they are tacitly admitting the mistake.

I think Pace had to do this ... his seat is getting awfully hot. He needs to unhook himself from the Trubisky pick as soon as possible to retain any measure of credibility I this town.

Agree 100%

[wiNDycityfan]

.

Foles is the bridge. The next real bears qb is coming in the 2021 draft

Tank for Trevor!

Seriously though, we may have to suck Bengals style (which we won’t), or trade up get one of the two only gems in that class - Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.

Which brings me back to the 2017 draft and what an epic mistake it continues to be.

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

I think Pace has done enough to keep his job. He's unhitched from Trubisky. He has drafted well on defense. He's good at drafting late round value. He and Nagy seem to have a good rapport. I am also tired of the revolving door at GM and Head Coach. I thing the two have good chemistry. If Mitch doesn't work out, I'm for keeping the current Bears FO as is.

[spudbear]

Mitch Trubisky is good kid. I will be strongly rooting for him in game one. But sadly I don't think he has what it take to even be an average NFL QB. But I hope he proves me wrong.

But thankfully we will have Foles to the rescue and he will be above average for the Bears, That means, I truly believe, it 's time for:

Agreed on Mitch, Griz. I got to the point where I'm tired of making excuses for him and settled that he has poor decision making skills. That gets magnified when you're under center and playing at game speed in the NFL, and Mitch does not seem to have it. Yeah, it's possible in a few years he may see the light and improve, just don't know if it will be good enough.

Since you brought it up and I ain't got nothing better to do:

I'm the funky QB and my name is Nick Foles,
I can run hot and I can run cold.
Got a SB MVP on the table,
Another one with the Bears if I'm able,
So I'm here to make it a double,
and we'll repeat the Super Bowl Shuffle.

and now for Trubisky:

Mitchy the kid is how I started,
After 4 years I'm about departed.
Franchise QB and team leader?
I don't know, uh ... um, whatever.
What else can I do for you,
to stay on the Bears shufflin' crew?

[dplank]

I think Pace has done enough to keep his job. He's unhitched from Trubisky. He has drafted well on defense. He's good at drafting late round value. He and Nagy seem to have a good rapport. I am also tired of the revolving door at GM and Head Coach. I thing the two have good chemistry. If Mitch doesn't work out, I'm for keeping the current Bears FO as is.

Totally agree

[Yogi da Bear]

Obvious move. Bears have said it would be an open competition. If they had signed Trubisky's fifth year option, they would have put a giant "LIE" to that declaration.

[RichH55]

Yogi is only guaranteed for injury - so I dont think picking it up would have meant all that much in the grand scheme

But not picking it up - that does send a message IMHO

[Yogi da Bear]

I think that picking it up would have told Foles that this wasn't really an open and fair competition, that they want Trubs as the Bear QB next season. Also, I wonder now that we haven't picked up the option, if some other team signs him for enough next season, does that count in the compensatory pick calculation? Probably so, huh?

[RichH55]

I think that picking it up would have told Foles that this wasn't really an open and fair competition, that they want Trubs as the Bear QB next season. Also, I wonder now that we haven't picked up the option, if some other team signs him for enough next season, does that count in the compensatory pick calculation? Probably so, huh?

It will count for compensatory purposes - Yes.

The option - at least under the old CBA (MItch's year is the last year of that - I THINK) - is SUPER team friendly

If there is a 50-50 chance that Mitch is going to be your Starter then there is an argument to give it - It's just hedging bets - Hence why I didn't think giving it to him would have actually meant much

* I DO have a question on it - It is revocable (ONLY guaranteed for Injury by 2021) - But can you revoke it at ANY time?

I.E. If you pick up the option and Foles just wins the job outright - Could you revoke it Week 1
Or is there language that you have to wait til the 2021 League year?

[The Cooler King]

I think that picking it up would have told Foles that this wasn't really an open and fair competition, that they want Trubs as the Bear QB next season. Also, I wonder now that we haven't picked up the option, if some other team signs him for enough next season, does that count in the compensatory pick calculation? Probably so, huh?

It will count for compensatory purposes - Yes.

The option - at least under the old CBA (MItch's year is the last year of that - I THINK) - is SUPER team friendly

If there is a 50-50 chance that Mitch is going to be your Starter then there is an argument to give it - It's just hedging bets - Hence why I didn't think giving it to him would have actually meant much

* I DO have a question on it - It is revocable (ONLY guaranteed for Injury by 2021) - But can you revoke it at ANY time?

I.E. If you pick up the option and Foles just wins the job outright - Could you revoke it Week 1
Or is there language that you have to wait til the 2021 League year?

The answer is you aren't revoking it. Once the option is excercized, that's it. The option is done.

What you can do is terminate the players contract (in other words, cut them). And I presume as long as they pass a physical, the guaranteed portion is null and void. But that player is a FA.

Also note that this rule is changing I think for the 2018 class, where it will then be guaranteed fully, not just for injury. Just for future reference.

[Richie]

Over this off-season, Pace has shown some willingness to admit mistakes and attempt to right some wrongs.

For that, he deserves credit.

[dplank]

I can't remember who said it or I'd link the clip, but thought it was funny as hell....some NFLN former player was bitching about QB's and how at every other position competition was expected but QB's were treated with kid gloves.

[wab]

Right move. But I hope Mitch breaks out and makes it look like a mistake.

[Mikefive]

Right move. But I hope Mitch breaks out and makes it look like a mistake.

Ryan Pace hopes that WAY more than you, me and everyone here.

If the light doesn't come on for 10, we're very very likely drafting our new QB somewhere in the bottom half of R1 in 2021 (or spending even more draft capital to move up).

[G08]

Right move. But I hope Mitch breaks out and makes it look like a mistake.

Agreed. While I think this truly will be an open competition, I do strongly believe that a "tie" will go to Trubisky. Management will want to exhaust giving him every opportunity to succeed, but it's on him to take advantage of that.

If he does "win" the competition, I still think he'll have a short leash to start the season. If he comes out and stinks for the first 3-4 games, I can see him being benched and his career in Chicago being over (save for some sort of injury to Foles).

What has me really curious is how our offense is going to be deployed. Is Nagy going to stick to QB-centric, put everything on the QB's plate and throw the ball 60 percent of the time? Or is he going to focus on running the ball and taking shots off play-action? How much will we be in 12 personnel? That's going to be fascinating to watch develop.

But yeah, I'm with you @wab, I hope the kid has a tremendous season. It is the best possible result for this franchise.