No Preseason? Advantage to Mitchell Trubisky

So much for transparency.

Hopefully there will be honesty.

When Matt Nagy talked with Bears media in April after the acquisition of Nick Foles, the Bears coach had this to say about the quarterback competition with Mitchell Trubisky

"What's important, and what y'all are going to find out in this process is it's going to be real simple—it's going to very transparent and very honest."

The transparency may have vanished entirely if reports are true about preseason being entirely eliminated.

A report Tuesday by Pro Football Talk said owners had agreed to players' concerns and canceled all of the preseason games.

If this is the case—and it hasn't been confirmed yet—then the Mitchell Trubisky battle with Nick Foles will be conducted entirely at closed-off Halas Hall, a fortress back in the woods in Lake Forest with no real live look for fans at what's going on between the passers.

Other than coaches and players, only media will see the practices and there are limitations what can even be reported from those.

As for the battle itself, the only person this can hurt is Foles.

Trubisky is the incumbent. He will take the first team snaps at the outset of training camp.

It will be up to Foles to step up and dramatically take over the offense if he hopes to take the position.

Whether Foles is capable of this isn't known, but it can't be an easy task when he comes to camp without working on the field within the offense during the offseason.

His first snap at training camp will be his first snap in the offense.

In essence, Trubisky has a two-year head start on Foles working within this offense.

Foles does have exposure to this Bears offense from Philadelphia and Kansas City, but Nagy pointed out some people think "...that these offenses that he's just come from are exactly the same and that couldn't be further from the truth.

"There's a learning curve there a little bit. For the most part it's a lot easier for him when he comes into it. Knowledge of the offense at that point helps."

So does coming into it as a quarterback with a Super Bowl MVP experience and six playoff games started.

Still, this is picking it up from scratch with no on-field work and now no game-like conditions to prove himself to coaches.

Last summer the Bears held one night practice and conducted a full-length game simulation so it can be expected they'll do something like this more than once in this camp to make up for the lack of any preseason games.

Still, it's not the same thing facing teammates in controlled conditions without the quarterbacks being under fire from a pass rush that can do them harm.

It just became a lot easier for Mitchell Trubisky to keep his spot, provided these reports are true.

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