Chicago Bears actions an indictment of Mitch Trubisky

On the first day of free agency, the Chicago Bears’ actions spoke louder than words.

At the NFL Combine, Chicago Bears’ general manager Ryan Pace seemed to give Mitchell Trubisky a vote of confidence. He clearly and unambiguously declared Trubisky was their starting quarterback. Or did he? Well, if the Bears’ actions on the first day of the legal tampering period were any indication, the answer is an unequivocal ‘no.’

While Pace may have publicly stated their support, there were a couple of huge qualifiers to those comments.

First, despite the public support, they still had not picked up his fifth-year option, which is a very telling statement in and of itself. Rather than pick it up immediately after the season like they did with Leonard Floyd, Pace indicated they were going to wait before making any decision.

Second, ‘of course, he was the starter.’ At the time, he was the only quarterback on the roster — and still is. However, that could change very quickly in light of the Bears’ flurry of activity around the position yesterday.

The day began in wild fashion with rumors that the Bears were in the process of working out a deal with free-agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. After an hour or so, new reports surfaced that Bridgewater would not end up in Chicago, but that the Bears had turned their focus to Andy Dalton and Nick Foles. Still, another report surfaced that the Bears were exploring every quarterback option out there, suggesting they were looking not only at free agents but also trade options.

Signing a player like Bridgewater would most certainly signal the end of the Trubisky era. The Bears would not be paying him approximately $21 million to come and be a backup. While bringing in Foles or Dalton wouldn’t send as definitive a signal, both of those players would win a true, open, and honest quarterback competition with Trubisky. And while they wouldn’t necessarily cost as much as Bridgewater, it would cost enough to where it would be unlikely the team would bring them in to be backups.

If the Bears were truly committed to Mitch as their starter next year, they’d have already signed a guy like Case Keenum or Nate Sudfield (both of whom have already signed) to come in and be a true backup. The idea that the Bears simply want “true competition” doesn’t seem to be the case. You don’t pay the kind of money it would cost to bring in Bridgewater, Foles or Dalton to simply light a fire under Mitch. This is clearly a case where actions are speaking louder than words.