Chicago Bears news: Jeff Saturday correctly says Mitchell Trubisky should get fair shot

While everyone on the Chicago Bears claims there is no quarterback competition this season, former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday says there should be a fair competition.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace tried to address the quarterback position this offseason. The main guys from last year, Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer, and Matt Barkley are all out. He went out and signed Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez through free agency. Surprisingly, he also drafted Mitchell Trubisky with the second pick of this year’s draft.

Having Trubisky drafted so high and with Glennon just signing, many see a potential quarterback controversy brewing. Well, hearing what everyone in the organization says, the starting quarterback job is already Glennon’s. At least for this season.

From the players to the executives, the Bears are bending over backward to avoid the appearance of any doubt about who the starter is.

Here is what Pace said on draft night:

"In regards to Mike Glennon, Mike Glennon is our starting quarterback. There’s no quarterback competition when Mitch gets here. Glennon is our starting quarterback."

Glennon and Trubisky followed the company line as well.

Here is what Glennon said:

"It was made clear to me about 10 minutes after [the Bears picked Trubisky], from a call from [general manager] Ryan [Pace], and the next morning again, the 2017 season is my year."

Trubisky wasn’t going to rock the boat:

"Mike’s the starter, and I’m behind him all the way."

So with everyone on the same page, things are good, right?

Not so fast.

Jeff Saturday, a six-time Pro Bowl center and the one who snapped the majority of future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Peyton Manning plays in his career, says this talk of giving Glennon the starter’s job without any competition is just plain wrong.

More from Da Windy City

Saturday spoke on the issue while on ESPN radio’s Dickerson and Hood Show.

"I don’t appreciate when someone says there is no competition here. In my opinion, no team gets better by diminishing the ability to compete.They paid Glennon a lot of money and they are going to try and get that year out of him, but my issue with that — as a veteran — is that if Trubisky shows up and just balls out and is the guy on offense that everyone wants to follow, shows he can be an incredible leader on the football field, and shows he’s a great quarterback and is better than Glennon, and then you make that decision that he’s not going to start no matter what … I think you’ve done yourself a tremendous disservice."

I am with Saturday on this one. I believe that competition breeds better play. Each guy wants to be THE guy so they up their play. How will the rest of the players follow Glennon if they know the better quarterback is sitting on the bench?

Of course, there is history the Bears could lean on in this situation.

In 2012, the Seattle Seahawks signed Matt Flynn to a three-year contract. Like Glennon in Tampa Bay, Flynn backed up a pretty good quarterback named Aaron Rodgers (Glennon backed up Jameis Winston). The Seahawks then drafted Russell Wilson. They gave Wilson a fair shot at the starting job and he outplayed Flynn. Pete Carroll made the decision to go with the rookie. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Chicago Bears need to have a real competition. The time of watching a last place team should end. The best way to field a winner is to put the players in a position to play well. A true competition does that.

Next: Jordan Howard named Bears' best player by NFL.com

Glennon and Trubisky are fighting to become the leader and the face of this franchise. The more they battle, the better one of them becomes. As that happens, their teammates will follow the true leader.

Home/Chicago Bears