Longtime Bleacher Report NFL draft expert Matt Miller is just as puzzled by the decline of Mitch Trubisky as everybody else. He had high hopes for the young quarterback like everybody else in 2017. In fact, he was one of Trubisky's biggest fans, even going so far as to rank him his #1 quarterback in the draft class. The mixture of athleticism, arm strength, and accuracy seemed like the ideal combination. He just appeared to be the least risky option between the gunslinger Patrick Mahomes and injury-prone Deshaun Watson.
He, like many others, was wrong. The Bears' decision has proven to be supreme folly. Watson and Mahomes are thriving in the league while Trubisky is on a steep decline after his promising 2018 season. With nine games left, belief that he can somehow right the ship is fading fast. Several experts already believe that the team will look to move on in 2020. Miller agrees. The fact is Trubisky is holding this offense back because of his inability to develop as he told Bernstein & McKnight on 670 The Score.
"You know I had Trubisky as the #1 quarterback (in 2017). I was wrong. You have to believe that Mitch is holding this offense back in gigantic ways because you can't be as aggressive if your quarterback's afraid to throw to his left. Or if he can't see his third read. You want to talk about Sam Darnold seeing ghosts? Mitch is seeing ghosts all over the field."
Matt Miller names two QB who might do better for them
The big question knowing all this is what can the Bears do? Well, nothing at the moment. They're stuck with what they have the rest of the year. Options won't open to them again until the start of the 2020 offseason next March. While Miller didn't commit to anything, it was interesting how he dropped two particular names when talking about how to boost the offense. Names that might be had for a team that's low on resources.
"I don't know if it's a rule from above or not but he's not using the athletic tools that he has to get out of that spot so it is difficult. I caught myself wondering over the weekend, 'How different would this offense look even with Andy Dalton?' Who is not a great quarterback but he'll take some chances and he'll move around and he's tough. You know exactly what you're getting from that guy.
Or what would Marcus Mariota even look like in that offense? These are guys who are at least completing a high percentage of their passes and they're very coachable and you're not held back by basically timid quarterback play."
It's interesting that Miller mentioned those two names.
Expectations are that both Mariota and Dalton will be available come 2020. Mariota was recently benched in favor of Ryan Tannehill and is a pending free agent. Dalton too was just benched by Cincinnati. He's under contract for one more season but the odds of him being on the roster by next September look remote. Either he'll be traded or cut by the team at some point in the offseason. Both would be relatively cheap to get from a money perspective. Something the Bears would probably be into given their salary cap constraints.
Mariota has connections to offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. He's still just 26-years old as well. Perhaps a change of scenery would be good for him. Dalton has never been a star but he's had some nice moments during his career and has proven he can be productive if given a decent offensive line and some quality weapons to work with. Neither could be called the ideal solution for the Bears, but they might at least be adequate bridge options until they get back into the 1st round in 2021.
