Yahoo Sports Has Nick Foles taken the lead over Mitchell Trubisky in Bears' QB competition?
One edge the Chicago Bears have in 2020 is their starting quarterback could remain a mystery until kickoff of Week 1.
There is no preseason for the Nick Foles-Mitchell Trubisky battle to play out. It will happen in practice, and it will be up to Matt Nagy if he wants to announce a starter for the opener against the Detroit Lions. It would also require everyone keeping a secret.
The NFL’s only true quarterback battle this month is a big deal in Chicago but mostly happening out of the spotlight. The only clues we could get are from beat writers watching practice.
Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago believes that after Tuesday’s practice, Foles might have a small lead.
Mitchell Trubisky has inaccurate day
Hoge said Tuesday was a significant day for the competition, and that Trubisky “truly struggled with his accuracy.” The Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer said Trubisky had “a number of wild throws.”
Given that Trubisky’s accuracy was his biggest problem last season, that’s a bad sign.
“There’s a couple balls I think he would want back, a few here or there just with the accuracy might not be exactly what he wanted,” Nagy said, according to NBC Sports Chicago.
Foles and Trubisky split the snaps with the first team, Hoge wrote. Nagy was frustrated that neither quarterback was aggressive enough in 7-on-7 drills, often settling for checkdowns.
While Hoge wrote that there was “no question Foles was the better quarterback” in Tuesday’s practice and has inched ahead in the competition, there is a regular theme from all the Bears beat writers: Neither quarterback is dazzling in practice and the competition is still too close to call.
Bears haven’t decided on a starter
The Bears have more invested in Trubisky. He was the second overall pick of the draft, a Pro Bowler in 2018 and is still young enough to theoretically develop into a viable starter. His play took a big step back in 2019, causing the Bears to make a panic trade for Foles. They owe him $21 million guaranteed.
In a perfect world Trubisky would light it up in camp, and the Bears would have an expensive backup in Foles. It doesn’t seem like that’s happening, though it doesn’t seem like Foles is doing much to beat him out. That puts the Bears in a tough spot.
Nagy said he’s in no rush to pick a starter, and he’s certainly not going to be in a rush to name one. There isn’t much time before the season opener, and the Bears can only hope they get a definitive answer soon.
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