Is it possible for one game to completely alter the outlook of an offseason? Yes, if that one game is bad enough. Mitch Trubisky looked like he had settled himself a bit after a brutal first half of 2019. He strung together a few strong performances in November and early December. All he had to do was basically not suck the rest of the way and it was clear the Chicago Bears would stick with him for one more year in 2020.
Well, true to form Trubisky could not oblige that requirement. In a season filled with some awful performances against good teams, the Bears quarterback was at his most useless on Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. He finished 18-of-34 for 158 yards and didn't cross the triple-digit threshold for passing yards until the 4th quarter. It was laughable how ineffective he was. His entire night was summed up by an overthrow of Allen Robinson that would've resulted in a 46-yard touchdown.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune believes that the game cements the reality that the Bears have to make a change in 2020.
There is no way to justify keeping him in place another year.
"It will mark the sixth time in the last 20 years the Bears have been among the bottom six in the league in scoring — and the third time since Pace’s arrival in 2015 and second time with Trubisky as the primary starting quarterback.
Year: Points, Rank, Primary starting QB
2000: 216, 28th, Cade McNown
2002: 281, 27th, Jim Miller
2004: 231, 32nd, Chad Hutchinson/Craig Krenzel
2016: 279, 28th, Matt Barkley
2017: 264, 29th, Mitch Trubisky
2019: 256 (and counting), 30th, Trubisky
...If the Bears don’t make replacing Trubisky the team’s No. 1 offseason priority, they’ve failed to have an honest evaluation of what’s happening at Halas Hall and they’ve done the rest of the NFC North a favor. No one knows what is going to be out there just yet, but this mess isn’t going to fix itself with Trubisky remaining as the starter in 2020."
Mitch Trubisky had his three years and is out of excuses
The common saying in the NFL is you tend to know who a player is by the conclusion of his third season. Well, the Bears have reached that point with Trubisky. There is no denying he's had some bright moments dating back to 2017, but they aren't nearly enough to overshadow the persistent mediocre-to-bad he's put on the football field in that time. His career passer rating is 85.8, which puts him in the same category as David Garrard. Another QB who was a one-year wonder surrounded by season after season of "not good enough."
Many fans have done everything in their power to find excuses for the 25-year old. The playcalling by Matt Nagy is bad. His protection isn't good enough. The receivers drop too many passes. They don't have a running game. Look, there is always a way to offer a counterargument to anything in sports. However, franchise quarterbacks are supposed to find ways around such problems. Carson Wentz has a 93.4 passer rating this season despite half the offense around him being out with injury.
It's time to accept reality. Trubisky isn't what the Bears hoped he'd be. They have to move on.
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