With every major investment there comes a point where you have to ask yourself a couple important questions. Have we seen enough sample size yet to determine whether we’re getting an effective ROI (return on investment) or not? Is this a sunk cost? Are we continuing to throw good money and time after bad?
With Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the answers to these questions are clear now, at least among much of the fan base. They’ve seen enough, believe it is isn’t working out and that it’s not going to work out. However, the front office is not on the same page, and that’s the opinion that matters.
The third year signal caller out of North Carolina will start this week against the Philadelphia Eagles, so the smart money making free NFL picks this week will probably bet on Philly -4.5 ahead of Sunday. We just haven’t seen a real progression from Trubisky, who has been the QB1 since mid-season 2017, and by this point, why should we believe things will change?
It’s not like some magical development is likely to take place going forward, as he kind of is who he is at this point. He’s the guy that Bears GM Ryan Pace got fleeced from the San Francisco 49ers on NFL Draft Day 2017 for. Pace, who will likely sink or swim with Trubisky, gave up a lot to move up one whole spot in the draft order so that he could select the Mentor, Ohio native. And as every disgruntled Bears fan on Twitter will quickly tell you- DeShaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes were both there for the taking.
And that’s why the Bears are so committed to Trubisky, despite the poor results and consistently inconsistent performances. He was selected second overall in his draft class, so the front office will see this through. According to a tweet from the Chicago Sun-Times Bears reporter Adam Jahns:
“There are some unhappy WRs, but the #Bears’ hierarchy still likes Mitch Trubisky. They like his want-to, approach, work ethic and so on. They support and root for him. It’s simply time for him to do/play better for them. That’s where they’re at. It’s time to perform on game days.”
In the meantime, you’re going to see a lot of irreverent, snarky and humorous tweets about Trubisky every Sunday when he’s playing and ineffective.
Aaron Rodgers and Mitch Trubisky are both NFL quarterbacks in the same way that Luke Bryan and George Strait are both country music singers.
— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) October 28, 2019
The Mitch Trubisky experience is just bad, like awful. pic.twitter.com/dOYdTGe7xN
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 27, 2019
While a case can be made that it is too early to bail out on Trubisky, his statistical numbers are reflective of who he is, and more importantly who he is not. Certainly so, when you factor out that extremely fluky six touchdown pass game he had against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in September of last season.
Perhaps Trubisky is getting more rope within the organization because the franchise’s history at the QB position is so egregiously awful. Jay Cutler was a slightly above average to average quarterback during his NFL career, but he is definitely the greatest pure passer in Bears history.
Rex Grossman was pretty much a train wreck, but his one great first half of a season in 2006 was enough for him to rewrite the Bears single season passing record book…at least until Cutler came along.
Even Steve Walsh, mediocre to serviceable among NFL standards, is well on the above average side of the Chicago Bears quarterback bell curve. So while Mitch Trubisky is bad, remember just how worse it can easily get.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.