(670 The Score) In the end, what did the Bears accomplish with their quarterback battle?
Bears coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace promised in the spring that Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles would compete to be the starting quarterback in a thorough process to be decided with no biases. They planned to make every snap in this truncated preseason count and hold a detailed evaluation of each one.
But it's worth wondering whether this was indeed a truly unbiased competition. The Bears named Trubisky the starting quarterback, a source confirmed Friday evening. Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported the news, which was revealed privately to both quarterbacks with the rest of the Bears off and away from Halas Hall.
Nagy apparently cut short his planned weekend of evaluating Trubisky and Foles with the coaching staff in order to name Trubisky the starter.
"It's not clear cut," Nagy said Wednesday, two days before naming Trubisky the starter.
Then it was?
It sure seems as if Nagy, Pace and the Bears selected the outcome in this apparent competition that they favored all along, returning Trubisky to his starting spot of 41 games and affording him one last chance to prove himself.
While the leash on Trubisky will certainly be short if he struggles again this season, this entire process now seems flawed.
The Bears traded for Foles in March, reaching a deal during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. They understood the structure of the offseason program would be altered, conducted virtually instead of at Halas Hall. And they realized the likelihood of training camp and the preseason being affected too.
But the Bears dealt a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for Foles, valuing continuity at quarterback -- and setting up a competition with Trubisky that was bound to end in a draw. Trubisky and Foles are similar in style, and neither separated himself during 16 practices in the preseason.
New Patriots quarterback Cam Newton was available to be signed for the league minimum last spring, but the Bears passed on that opportunity. They believed Foles was the better choice to contend with Trubisky. On Thursday, the Patriots named Newton the starter and a captain in a team meeting. The Bears worked in the dark selecting Trubisky, with that decision becoming clear when it was leaked to a national reporter.
The sample size was smaller given the unique and abbreviated preseason format, but the Bears pressed on with a quarterback battle that seemed to favor Trubisky all along, without merit deciding the outcome.
Trubisky responded to the arrival of Foles with a reinvigorated demeanor, embracing the challenge of holding his starting job. But that mindset didn't result in improved play in practice.
Trubsky appears to be the same Trubisky of the last three seasons. Foles will be waiting in the wings if the Bears decide to pull the plug.
If anything, the Bears simply pushed the quarterback controversy into the regular season. They ensured that with each three-and-out that Trubisky leads to start the season, the cameras will shift toward the sidelines to see if Foles is warming up.
As the old saying goes, if you have two quarterbacks, you really have none. That's the case for the Bears entering a pivotal season in which they're aiming to get back to the playoffs. The uncertainty at quarterback will linger throughout the rest of 2020.
The Bears didn't determine a winner in this quarterback battle. They punted it to later.
So, what was the point of this all?
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
