A Friendly Focus for Bears
He quarterbacked the Bears in two playoff games, which is the same number as Jay Cutler, but did it in four seasons while Cutler had eight.
Mitchell Trubisky returns to Soldier Field and will be there in a role similar to when he left—he'll be starting.
Trubisky obviously isn't the regular starter but will start against his old team Saturday for Buffalo, because the Bills announced Thursday that Josh Allen would be held out of the game. So it will be Trubisky vs. Andy Dalton at the outset, and maybe Justin Fields against Trubisky later for a while in the noon kickoff.
"Mitch did a great job for us," Bears guard Cody Whitehair said. "I know he's still got a lot of friends on this team so it's going to be good to see him. I'm excited to see him."
Whitehair will be among those especially looking to talk to Trubisky. The former Bears quarterback was godfather to his daughter Blakely Sue.
"It's just like, friends are friends. But there's obviously a business side to it too, we understand that," Whitehair said. "But that's one of the coolest parts about this business. The relationships you make, the bonds and the brothers that you continue, the relationships you continue to have 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road.
"Those are just awesome relationships you build and those are life long friends."
The ties only go so far, though. Safety Eddie Jackson came into the league with Trubisky in 2017 as the fourth-round pick when the Bears took their quarterback with the second pick of the draft.
"I mean, going against us, you know, I'm not going to say it's the best start, but it's a good start. It's a good start," Jackson said. "Like I said, that's my guy, man.
"It's a good start for him, a new chapter in his life where he can flip the script, start over. But this weekend, like I said, I don't care if he's my cousin, my brother, if you line up on that other side, we're going to give you that work. He's got it coming to him for sure."
Of all the people with the Bears who knew Trubisky, the one who might have spent the most time with him is coach Matt Nagy. Prior to the game Nagy might have a few words with his old quarterback if there is time. What he remembers most about three seasons together in Chicago is Trubisky's willingness to battle.
"Mitch is an extremely tough individual," Nagy said. "Really, last year with what he went through with some of the injuries, it could have been easy for him to just say 'you know what I'm not playing any more. I got injured and I'm just, I'm done.' And he didn't do that. He fought back."
Trubisky suffered a right shoulder injury when he came off the bench for one play against New Orleans after he had been benched in favor of Nick Foles.
Trubisky didn't live up to status as second pick in the draft but it would be an exaggeration to call him a bust. He has a career completion percentage of 64% and career quarterback rating of 87.2, which rate as decent numbers. But he never did manage to get the ball downfield with accuracy, averaging just 6.7 yards per attempt and going over 7.0 only in 2018 (7.4).
"And so I'll always go back to too the time that we spent together in those three years it would not be fair to put everything on him," Nagy said. "There's a lot of things that went into that. And I know that he's a resilient guy and he's going to do everything he can to have a successful career."
Fans might do something else, but Nagy doubts there will be any animosity directed toward Trubisky among players.
"There might be a little bit of joking around and having fun with him because they like him, but when they're out there they want to be able to do everything they can to make the team and make plays," Nagy said of his players.
Life goes on in the NFL from year to year and winning is the priority. In preseason, winning a job is the goal of most.
Bears QB win percentages
30 starts or more
(Since 1954)
| Quarterback | Years | Record Starting | Winning Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|
Jim McMahon | 1982-88 | 46-15 | .754 |
Mike Tomczak | 1985-90 | 21-10 | .677 |
Kyle Orton | 2005-08 | 21-12 | .636 |
Rex Grossman | 2003-08 | 19-12 | .613 |
Ed Brown | 1954-61 | 39-25-2 | .606 |
Rudy Bukich | 1958-68 | 17-11-2 | .600 |
Mitchell Trubisky | 2017-20 | 29-21 | .580 |
Bill Wade | 1961-66 | 27-20-2 | .571 |
Jim Harbaugh | 1987-93 | 35-30 | .538 |
Jay Cutler | 2009-16 | 51-51 | .500 |
Bob Avellini | 1975-84 | 23-27 | .460 |
Jack Concannon | 1967-71 | 17-22-1 | .437 |
Erik Kramer | 1994-98 | 18-28 | .391 |
Vince Evans | 1977-83 | 12-20 | .375 |
Bobby Douglass | 1969-75 | 13-31-1 | .300 |
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