Mitchell Trubisky May Have Played His Final Snap With the Bears
Mitchell Trubisky’s tenure with the Chicago Bears has unraveled over the last couple of seasons. There has been no sign of a long-term commitment coming from the Bears in the upcoming offseason. With Chicago exiting the 2020 playoff unceremoniously, the writing is on the wall that Trubisky‘s time is up with the franchise.
Saints hand Bears an early playoff exit
Despite a downward tumble midway through the 2020 season, the Chicago Bears captured a wild-card playoff berth.
The Bears garnered a spot in the postseason but fell disappointingly to the New Orleans Saints. Chicago struggled to get any traction offensively in the 28-3 loss to New Orleans.
Mitchell Trubisky struggled to guide the Bears offense forward by mustering a lone scoring drive in the contest until a garbage time touchdown. Granted, wideout Javon Wims dropped a wide-open touchdown grabbed; they couldn’t move the ball effectively down the field against the Saints defense.
Trubisky was a complete non-factor with his arm throughout the contest, which was a one-sided affair. The -year-old had an opportunity to showcase to Chicago that he could be the long-term future with a strong playoff outing but fell flat on his face.
He piled up 19-of-29 completed passes for 199 yards and a touchdown. His numbers fared much worse before a final touchdown drive with the game already out of hand.
Beyond a discouraging playoff exit, the loss may have more importantly shown the Bears all they need to know about Trubisky moving forward. Simply put, he may have pulled his final straw in Chicago.
Mitchell Trubisky may have played his final down with the Bears
Over the last few seasons, Mitchell Trubisky walked the tight rope with his future in Chicago.
Trubisky entered the 2020 campaign on shaky ground, especially after the team elected not to pick up his fifth-year rookie contract option for 2021 and traded for Nick Foles. It didn’t help his case that he lost the starting job early in the season to Foles.
The former Pro Bowler managed to regain the starting job late in the season and played a pivotal role toward pushing the Bears into the playoffs. Trubiskyguided Chicago to three straight games with at least 30 points, which was their first such streak since the 2013 campaign.
However, the buzz around Trubisky quickly came apart after a disappointing playoff exit. It also didn’t help that before the game, Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network reported that it doesn’t look promising for his future with the team as he nears his pending free agency
“From what I understand, there’s nothing certain. The Bears are not set right now on bringing him back,” said Rapoport. “Perhaps…If he wins and keeps winning, he can change their minds. Still a lot of work to do for Trubisky.”
With another early playoff exit in hand, the writing is on the wall for the Bears to finally move on from the former 2017 second overall pick.
Offseason of change ahead?
The Bears maintain control of the situation involving Mitchel Trubisky’s future.
Chicago could keep him for at least another year by using the franchise tag for the 2021 campaign. However, that may be best served to retain free-agent-to-be Allen Robinson. Although the 27-year-old’s tenure has been less than glorious, the star wideout bounced back in Pro Bowl fashion in 2020 with a career-high 102 catches for 1,250 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
It’s hard to imagine that the Bears would keep Trubisky, given that Nick Foles is only finishing the first year of his three-year, $24 million deal. His deal includes roughly a $14.3 million dead cap hit for the 2021 season. The Bears would have no incentive to possess two quarterbacks under significant contracts that they don’t believe are their long-term solutions.
The entire situation paints the picture that it’s in the best interest of both Chicago and Trubisky to move on.
Contract number courtesy of Spotrac.
