Mitchell Trubisky Critic Flips and Says He Should Start
Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi hasn't exactly been a staunch supporter of Mitchell Trubisky, GM Ryan Pace or the Bears.
In fact, Lombardi sort of became famous or infamous in Chicago for saying he wasn't buying Trubisky "if you had him on a discount rack at Filene's Basement."
How the times have changed, or at least the situation.
It's not because of Trubisky's passinig. Instead, it's because his running ability can help offset what Lombardi sees as the real major problem—the Bears offensive line.
"And I think going back to MVP Mitch wouldn't be the worst, but look I think Nagy really wanted to play Foles all along," Lombardi said. "I think Pace kind of made him start MVP Mitch to begin the season and once he had enough of him in the Atlanta game he made the move.
"Now, I don't know if he has any options. If Mitch is healthy I think the next six games they should play Mitch because they need movement at the position, assuming now Mitch will run because there's times where Mitch doesn't run."
Lombardi then took shots at Foles.
"As much as I've been critical of MVP Mitch, you know Nick Foles has proven to be what Nick Foles has always been, which is a backup journeyman quarterback," Lombardi saiid. "He got lightning in a bottle, Philly, Philly they have a statue of him in front of the Eagles. The Eagles fans here in Philadelphia think he's the greatest quarterback that ever walked into their building and rightly so. They won a Super Bowl with him.
"However, his production, getting beaten out last year by Gardner Minshew, shows you that Nick can do some things but he does a lot of things not very well."
Even if Pace is responsible for bringing Trubisky to Chicago, Lombardi sees his job as being secure due to the way the McCaskey family thinks of him.
"I think everybody thinks that Pace is safe," Lombardi said. "The word around the league is that he's endeared himself to the family. I don't think there's any doubt that he would be back. Now, maybe that's because nobody really knows and they expect that."
Pace's boss is president and CEO Ted Phillips, who has always been said to have endeared himself to the McCaskeys for getting a stadium built and several other things.
"But I think if you're the president of the team, if you're Ted Phillips, you have to take a step back and say, 'OK, this general manager really cost us, a $100-million mistake in a sense we passed on a really good player,'" Lombardi told WSCR. "That alone should get somebody fired.
"When you enter the NFL, me included, when you enter the NFL and you make that mistake, you know you're not going to keep your job. If you keep your job after that mistake, you're really, really a blessed person."
Essentially Lombardi is right about being endeared to the McCaskeys, but the family thought highly of coach Lovie Smith, as well, and then let him be fired by GM Phil Emery.
As for Matt Nagy, Lombardi pointed out he simply isn't his mentor, Andy Reid.
"The real issue you have if you're a Bear fan is it's the same thing in Philadelphia, this is a little bit of a byproduct of the Andy Reid chain," Lombardi said. "Andy's a unique, unique play caller. He's a unique play designer and everybody thinks they're Andy and everybody copies Andy's recipes.
"The problem is they can't cook it."
And the problem with Lombardi's reasoning, of course, is one of Reid's disciples is in Philadelphia and he has won as many Super Bowls as Reid.
And Doug Pederson did this with Foles at quarterback.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
