Mike Glennon, Chicago Bears first-team offense sharp back at camp

Despite a poor showing in the first preseason game, Mike Glennon and the Chicago Bears first-team offense gets back on track in their return to training camp.

Mike Glennon‘s debut for the Chicago Bears on Thursday night went about as bad as possible. On his second pass of the night, Glennon severely underthrew a pass to wide receiver Cameron Meredith that was picked off and returned 50 yards for a touchdown. Glennon and the first-team offense played through the first quarter and early in the second quarter. They did not score a single point.

Glennon went 2/8 on the night for 20 yards and the interception. His 0.0 passer rating does not exactly spark confidence in his ability to be a high-level starting quarterback. To make matters worse for Glennon, rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky was dominant on Thursday night, and now, seemingly everybody thinks that Trubisky should immediately take over as the Bears’ starting quarterback. Well, everybody besides the guys who matter.

The Bears are moving forward with Glennon as their starter, while Trubisky still remains the third quarterback. That may seem baffling based on what happened in the first preseason game, but Glennon got the first-team offense back on track in the Bears’ first practice back at training camp.

Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune paints the scene from Bears’ practice on Saturday:

"“Mike Glennon was sharp and determined in moving on from his unsuccessful debut,” Campbell wrote. “Glennon hadn’t even left Soldier Field Thursday night before he sensed the swell of public support for rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky. He vowed then to proceed in businesslike fashion, and there appeared to be a sense of urgency in his practice Saturday.”“The veteran quarterback began team drills by putting the right amount of air under a long completion to Kendall Wright near (the) left sideline. Then he hit Kevin White on a comeback route. He hooked up with White repeatedly throughout practice and did not throw an interception.”"

I am not a huge believer in Glennon, but I think it is best for the Bears if he can hold onto the starting quarterback job for at least the beginning of the 2017 season. Trubisky is an extremely talented player, and I think the Bears should look to challenge him a bit to see if he is ready. However, in reality, Trubisky is not likely ready to be an NFL starting quarterback.

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Trubisky has all of the arm talent, athleticism and accuracy in the world, but he is undoubtedly a raw quarterback prospect. He only started 13 games in college and played in a wide-open shotgun offense. Trubisky needs time to learn how to run a pro style offense and adapt to the NFL game. Glennon being good enough to allow this to happen is important for the long-term success of the rookie quarterback.

We are all excited to see what Trubisky can do. He certainly put on an impressive performance that is worthy of excitement on Thursday night. However, we should probably take a step back and evaluate for a moment.

Trubisky was incredible, but it came against a third-team defense and vanilla defensive schemes. The Bears also obviously played to Trubisky’s strengths with an offense run primarily out of the shotgun and a ton of roll out passes. There was a lot to like about Trubisky’s performance, but he was undoubtedly set up for success. I am not sure we learned too much about him on Thursday night.

Next: Bears' offensive grades from first preseason game

Glennon is still the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears, and for now, I agree with that decision. However, that could change quickly if he continues to struggle the way he did on Thursday night. No matter how you feel about who should start at quarterback for the Chicago Bears, it is good to see Glennon and the first-team offense getting back on track.