Matt Nagy Isn't Naming Starting QB for Packers Game Yet
Matt Nagy opted to punt on the difficult question of who starts at quarterback this week for the Bears against the Green Bay Packers.
The Bears coach didn't name a starter after Monday's practice.
Whether he does the rest of the week remains to be seen, although the team's current Zoom interview schedule still has Nick Foles slated to be on a press conference Wednesday, the normal day for the starting quarterback to talk. Foles was not seen at Monday's lighter, "10-10-10" practice, but backup Mitchell Trubisky was.
"Again with both these guys and kind of where they're at with their injuries, that's what we're kind of working through right now to see exactly where they're at," Nagy said. "The good thing for us coming off the bye is it happened over the bye for Nick and now we're able to kind of day by day just see where he's at."
Nagy said he'd have a better idea on Wednesday where both quarterbacks and other players are at injury-wise.
"We're going through and just trying to figure out, OK, health-wise where they're at and then also us, too, coming through the bye like I said, us evaluating where we're at, us as a team as an offense all of that is on the table," Nagy said.
Foles suffered a hip and glute injury Nov. 16 against the Minnesota Vikings and Trubisky has a right shoulder injury suffered Nov. 1 against the New Orleans Saints on the only snap he has taken since being replaced by Foles in the third quarter of the third game against Atlanta.
While Nagy didn't reveal the quarterback, he described the process the team's offense has been through and sounded like anything but a coach who is prepared to stand pat at the position after starting Foles over Trubisky beginning with Week 4.
"We made the move at the quarterback position and we ended up struggling to run the ball a little bit against the Colts and Tampa Bay and for, again, different reasons I just felt like looking back at it that we were never able to just establish that identity per se. We were just kind of, 'hey, we need to get the run game going.' When we get that going and then we weren't able to pass the ball. Our protection would break down or whatever. Or next week we'd get great protection and we'd struggle for different reasons to run the ball.
"Also, at the quarterback position and at the wide receiver position, we just weren't gelling as an offense in general."
Nagy said the team's offense went through changes in the summer to try to get the running game to work, and it did early. Then came the quarterback change and injuries.
"We just for different reasons never ended up clicking and it took us to the point where we'd have a good game or decent game and it just wasn't enough to win and it's way worse, then it feels worse," Nagy said. "Then all of the sudden we have two bad games with the Rams and our last game against the Vikings and they're just really bad."
Trubisky hasn't lost as a starting quarterback this season, although Foles finished his third and final game by rallying the Bears from 16 down in the fourth quarter to win. The Bears are 2-5 with Foles as starter.
For his three games, Trubisky was 51 of 86 for 560 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions.with a passer rating of 87.4.
Foles went 202 of 311 for 1,852 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He put up a passer rating of 81.0.
It's possible Trubisky's mobility will play a factor in this decision. The offensive line Foles has been playing behind for the past four week has been depleted by injuries but should be somewhat healthier now.
Bears receiver Allen Robinson anticipates no difficulty getting in sync again with Trubisky if it should be their opening day starter throwing passes again.
"I mean, it's not anything different," Robinson said. "It's just going out there and getting the (practice) reps in, trying to fine tune as much as we can. It's not rocket science. It's me just going out there and being myself trying to make the quarterback's job easy."
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