Mitchell Trubisky couldn’t have been happy about the Bears‘ decision to decline his fifth-year option, but he didn’t react poorly to the news. At least, that’s what GM Ryan Pace claimed in an interview on 670 The Score.
“We’ve always had the approach where we’re honest and we’re truthful with our players and with our staff, then we move on and we get to work,” Pace said. “That’s where it’s at. Mitch gets it. Everyone’s competing. Everyone’s focused on better results. That’s the entire team. We believe in Mitch. That doesn’t change. You can point to Kyle Fuller as a great example of a player who didn’t get his option exercised. I’d think we would say that worked out well for him and for us.”
The Bears could have extended quarterback’s deal through 2021 at cost of $24.8MM. Even though that sum would have only been guaranteed for injury, Pace turned down the option. Just three short years ago, the Bears traded up from No. 3 to No. 2 to get the UNC standout. However, he’s been inconsistent as a pro, and the success of Patrick Mahomes (the No. 10 pick in the 2017 draft) and Deshaun Watson (No. 12) have only underscored his struggles.
Of course, it hasn’t been all bad. In 2018, Trubisky finished with 24 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and a trip to the Pro Bowl as an alternate. In 2019, he regressed and finished 28th the bottom in QBR. This year, he’ll look to get his career back on track and inspire confidence in the Bears’ front office.
Here’s more out of Chicago:
- There’s been some talk about the Bears’ need for a veteran running back, but Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune isn’t too worked up about it, noting the continued availability of players like Carlos Hyde, who ran for over 1,000 yards last year. For now, they’ve got Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery leading the way with Ryan Nall and UDFAs Artavis Pierce and Napoleon Maxwell rounding out the group.
- New Bears wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. is entering his 14th season as a pro, but he says he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. “I can run. I can still run,” Ginn told reporters this week (via Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic). “That’s my attribute. I can run, I can catch, I can jump, I can do everything that I can possibly do to be a receiver.” Fishbain agrees and sees Ginn as a solution to one of the Bears’ biggest problems from last year. In 2019, the Bears averaged a league-low 5.67 yards per pass, down from a respectable 6.96 in 2018. With top-end speed, Ginn can give them a boost.
- Despite some previous rumblings, the Bears are not planning to pursue free agent guard Larry Warford. Warford will have to find work elsewhere as he seeks a deal worth $7MM per year.
Why would he be upset? Don’t suck and your option is picked up. He’s clearly a bust at this point. Move on.
A bust for his draft spot and who was drafted 10 picks later but not a completely talentless player, he didn’t deserve to have his option picked up but I certainly wouldn’t just release him and move on, there’s no telling what foles will be next season and as we saw with chase Daniel last year, you need an able backup in Chicago
He wouldn’t come back to Chicago next season unless it was a long term deal. Unless he sucks this year then he’ll be looking at a wineston or bortles situation
They can still tag him if Mitch improves so declining the 5th year is almost always the smart move
my grandma can still run
Not with that peg leg.
Mitch or most quarterbacks for that matter are gonna struggle when the run game is completely nonexistent. The bears run game is straight trash, and teams still stack the box.Trubisky can’t throw deep not with any kind of consistent accuracy. Their run offense won’t get any better until they fix the line or get a premier back. If the opposing defense knows you can’t run the ball or throw deep the game is over for that offense.
Run game was trash because the line was also. So with no run game they made Mitch throw constantly which does not bode well for his style. It needs to be balanced, a la Dak Prescott.
It was compounded by the fact that Trubisky had difficulty making the progression from his first to second-third options to throw to. Foles is not as mobile, but he gets rid of the ball in a hurry. We’ll see. Still can’t believe they did virtually nothing to improve that O-line.
“We’ve always had the approach where we’re honest and we’re truthful with our players”.
Pace: “It’s not you…it’s me”
Trubisky: “I had a feeling you would say that”
The bears had speed in turbo, when he wasn’t injured. He had trouble with catches, which partially could be Trubisky’s fault, but the o-line was a mess too. We will see if Ginn can add more value than turbo at less money, but they need to fix that o-line first to allow Trubisky time to read the field and the RBs lanes to get through.