Chicago Bears: Stop trying to convince us that Mike Glennon’s not bad

Whether or not the Chicago Bears are ready to play Mitch Trubisky, they really need to stop lying to everyone, including themselves, about Mike Glennon.

For the record, while I’ve often expressed wanting (and expecting) to see Mitch Trubisky play for the Chicago Bears this season, I can understand why they are not rushing to start him in light of Mike Glennon‘s anemic performance this season.

He’s just a rookie, after all, who still has much to learn and will undergo growing pains.

His supporting cast has suffered myriad injuries, from the offensive line to the receiving corps.

And, particularly this week, throwing him into the fire on a short week of prep against the Green Bay Packers would do him a disservice.

So, the logical part of my brain can process a few actual reasons why Trubisky will keep sitting and may not start until after the bye week. I don’t agree with it – nothing I’ve seen of the Bears offense under Mike Glennon tells me that Trubisky couldn’t do better – but I can accept a need to stay patient for now.

What I can’t, and won’t, accept is for the Bears and certain people associated with the team telling me that Mike Glennon is an NFL starting quarterback.

It’s simply not true, and their own handling of Glennon within this offense proves that they don’t think so either. So, how about you do everyone a favor and stop lying about it?

Foxy’s Last Stand

First off, enough with John Fox going in front of the media and trying to explain away Glennon’s completely useless play just so that he can avoid addressing Trubisky for another week.

Oh, he played well enough to win on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, did he, Coach?

Aside from proving he can hand off or pitch to running backs 35 times and can throw a two-yard touchdown pass after being gifted a short field, what exactly did Mike Glennon do to help your football team?

I mean, you wouldn’t even allow him to attempt a pass in overtime. What does that say?

Do you honestly believe that your team will run on every football team like they did Sunday? And if they can’t, do you believe that Glennon completing one pass 10+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage will make for effective offense?

Oh, you want to point out that Glennon would’ve completed more passes if not for drops by receivers, do you?

1. Of course, let’s shift the blame to the receivers that Glennon only targeted four times in this game (one completion for nine yards to Deonte Thompson).

2. Should we also, then, count that dropped interception that likely would’ve ended the game for the Bears? As if the first one in the shadow of your own end zone didn’t hurt enough.

I think the defense showed in Tampa Bay that they can’t clean up Glennon’s messes all game. And as good as Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen are, they won’t succeed forever against crowded lines.

If you continue trying to sell us on Mike Glennon’s ability to win the Chicago Bears football games, Coach Fox, I fear that I’m compelled to call you a liar.

Again, Fox might be acting deliberately cagey to avoid revealing his true intentions regarding the quarterback position. I mean, at this point, I really hope so. Because if he truly believes that this kind of quarterback play is acceptable, then he probably shouldn’t stay on as this team’s head coach past the bye week.

Just my opinion.

Really, Jim?

If you don’t tune into 670 the Score, I would recommend giving the Spiegel and Parkins Show a listen at around 9:30 CT every day after a Bears game.

Why? Because you’ll get to hear Jim Miller, whose name sits among the litany of mediocre/bad Chicago Bears quarterbacks, explain why he believes Mike Glennon is a really good football player.

It’s simultaneously hilarious, maddening and slightly depressing. Side note, but Miller was one of the first Bears quarterbacks I actually remember watching play regularly. I do wish he had ended up being smarter.

Anyway, listening to Miller passionately defend Glennon as a solid NFL quarterback strikes me as surreal. After all, everything that any of us watching the Bears can see tells us that it’s simply not the case.

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Sure, some of us want to see the Bears’ second-overall pick play soon, but don’t hide behind that. The observation that Glennon looks bad at quarterbacking is completely independent of any desire to see Trubisky start.

We all see the inability or desire to throw the ball downfield and how that affects the Chicago Bears offense. Or perhaps Miller enjoys it when teams openly disrespect his team’s passing game.

We have all noticed his utter lack of athleticism and mobility in the pocket and his limitations in extending plays.

And we all can see that, despite his being labeled a “game-manager”, he consistently shows that he cannot manage a football game in a way that really helps his team. How many more checkdowns, slow reads, late throws that get picked and bad ball-placements do we need to see?

But if you ask Miller, Glennon should be considered as a long-term option for the Bears if he continues his current performance. Does anyone else sense some kind of weird vicarious living or unnatural water-carrying here? Could anything explain this obsessive need to make Glennon appear good when he’s clearly not?

Hmm…I’ll take that under consideration.

Next: Grading the Chicago Bears offense in Sunday's win

The Bottom Line

In the end, I can’t control what Fox, Miller or anyone associated with the Chicago Bears tells us about Glennon. If they want to lie to or mislead us about Glennon’s play or Trubisky’s readiness, they’re going to.

Unfortunately for Fox, though, that won’t make the questions and criticisms go away. And now that Glennon has revealed himself to be just another bad Bears quarterback, the attention will only grow. Seemingly everyone else with eyes that have seen Glennon don’t buy what he’s selling.

So, stop pushing a narrative about Glennon that simply isn’t true, and quit lying about Glennon being a good player.

Play or don’t play Trubisky (though I’m sure you will eventually), but just give it up for goodness’ sake. Maybe once you have, you’ll see that Trubisky could run the high school offense you just ran Sunday just fine.

Perhaps they’ll find that, with a quarterback physically capable of executing an NFL offense, their team becomes more dangerous.

Plus, the Bears just proved they can win without Glennon’s help. The next step can’t be that far away.