A Natural Parting Point for Mitchell Trubisky
Dave Kaplan's thoughts on the Cubs are always spot-on but not quite so close to the mark when it comes to football in general, and specifically the Chicago Bears.
The ESPN AM-1000 broadcaster often champions popular-but-misconceived stances on issues regarding the Bears. However, a comment attributed to him Tuesday on social media made real sense, and that's the team’s much-anticipated parting of ways with Mitchell Trubisky.
It makes total sense and it has for a long time.
"I have talk(ed) to people who are close to Mitchell Trubisky, he has zero interest in coming back here," Kaplan said.
He said the same is true on the other side, which is certain to set off a large celebration among a certain number of Bears fans.
"I've also talked to people who are close to Matt Nagy & they have zero interest in him coming back here," Kaplan said.
None of the banter about Trubisky possibly returning to Chicago as a backup or to be a bridge quarterback to a rookie has ever made sense.
It would have been unwise from Trubisky’s standpoint because of how quickly he was thrown under the bus in Week 3 by Nagy when the team was still 2-0 on the year and down by 16 in a game. Plenty could still happen on the season even with a defeat, but he was rushed to the bench and kept there for seven Nick Foles starts and five losses.
So why would he want to return after they came begging to have him play again following Foles' injury, but now aren't willing to put up starter's money?
On game day just before the Bears lost to the Saints 21-9 in the wild-card round of the playoffs, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Trubisky would be gone without a long playoff run.
It obviously wasn't a long playoff run and the Bears offense generated nine points in the playoff game.
The Bears have been through four years with Trubisky and he has been almost entirely unable to beat teams with winning records. No one could blame them for deciding to go another direction.
Since Nagy became head coach, the only instances of Trubisky beating winning teams came about almost entirely because of the Bears defense. A 2018 win over Seattle was the single occurrence where Trubisky didn't simply ride his defense's coat tails to the win over a good team.
The Bears have given him plenty of chances to live up to the second spot in the 2017 draft and he hasn't.
If Trubisky returned as, say, a backup behind Carson Wentz, then it's a situation where it could divide locker room allegiances. Wentz would be coming in already from an Eagles team where there is evidence this occurred.
Trubisky has been with the Bears long enough to have several players build strong ties, particularly linemen. A new quarterback ahead of Trubisky could cause a divided dynamic team dynamic.
Starting fresh with another backup lends itself well to a cohesive team.
Parting ways with Trubisky makes sense economically, as well.
This was a quarterback with a great deal of starting experience and it would require more than regular backup money to sign him.
Spotrac.com attaches market values to players and had given Trubisky a value of $8.3 million for 2021, which is steep if the plan is to keep him behind a starter.
If they acquired Wentz, they'd already be sinking a ton of cash into the position and wouldn't want to overpay his backup.
Last year Ryan Fitzpatrick had an average annual cost of $5.5 million and Case Keenum $6 million. Those are more in line with well-paid backups. Chase Daniel received $4.35 million average cost to go to Detroit.
A rookie backup or an aged veteran backup wouldn't command the $8.3 million cost Trubisky would earn by this projection.
So, it makes dollars and sense for Trubisky to be leaving town.
It should be a mutual parting of the ways for another reason.
Why would Ryan Pace want Trubisky around as a backup on the roster reminding everyone about how he failed in the first round of with one of the worst trades in draft history?
To many Bears fans, it’s not something they’ll believe until they actually see it because of all the support Trubisky has received through the years from Pace and the organization. But there seems no other route left.
It all seems like a natural parting point.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
