The Chicago Bears acquired quarterback Nick Foles in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fourth-round comp draft pick (#140 overall). The Jaguars will stick with Gardner Minshew, who filled in for Foles and did a bang-up job when Foles broke his clavicle. With the addition of Foles, where does Bears ex-starting QB Mitch Trubisky end up after the trade?
The move makes sense for the Bears, who needed an upgrade at quarterback after Trubisky struggled with injuries and failed to live up to his pre-draft hype. The Bears went all-in on Foles in order to win next season.
Foles also has previous working relationships with all three main coaches in Chicago. He’s played for head coach Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, and QB coach Jon DeFilippo.
It seems like the Jaguars overpaid for Foles, but then again, he was a hot commodity. Foles won a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles as a backup during the 2017 season. Then Foles almost replicated his off-the-bench magic again in 2018.
According to William Hill, the Chicago Bears are now 33/1 odds to win the 2021 Super Bowl, after the Nick Foles trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags are 66/1 odds to win the NFL championship next season.
Jags: Trade Nick Foles, Keep Minshew Mania
Foles suffered a bad beat with an injury on the first series of the 2019 season. He took a hit that knocked him out of the game and it took him nearly half the season to return from rehabbing a broken clavicle. During that time, Minshew Mania had taken over.
Foles struggled upon his return. It seemed obvious that he returned too soon and wasn’t at 100%. He started three games in November but found himself benched in his third game back.
From that point forward, Minshew started the remainder of the games in December and Foles settled into his backup role. He’s always been an excellent backup, but at $88 million, it’s a waste.
Foles finished the 2019 season with three touchdowns, two picks, 736 total passing yards, and a 33.6 QBR. The Jags were 0-4 in games Foles started in 2019.
The Jags finished 6-10. Minshew went 6-6 as a starter in his rookie season. Minshew threw for 3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns, and only six interceptions.
The Jaguars are a spend-thrift organization, so it was sort of surprising to see them overpay for Foles. Once they realized their error, they didn’t waste any time to move him.
Minshew played well enough for the organization to move forward with the mustachioed-cult hero. Plus, he’s super cheap while playing on a rookie contract. The Jags drafted him in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Washington State.
It made financial sense for the Jaguars to trade Foles to the Bears. But now the Bears have two quarterbacks with Foles and Trubisky.
What’s Next for Trubisky?
It looks like Trubisky will have to suck it up as the Bears’ backup QB. The best he can do is learn from a veteran like Foles and be ready to go if Foles gets hurt (again) or plays poorly.
In 2018, Trubisky demonstrated flashes of greatness during his second season in the NFL. He threw 24 touchdowns in 14 games with a 66.6% completion percentage. The Bears had the best defense in the league and went 12-4.
Last season, Trubisky played in 15 games and the Bears finished an extremely disappointing 8-8. He threw 17 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and had a 39.5 QBR (ranked #28 in the NFL). He was also sacked 38 times.
Trubisky underwent surgery when the season ended. He played with a partially torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, but finally had surgery to fix it. He’s expected to be ready to go whenever training camps open.
At the combines in late February, general manager Ryan Pace said the Bears were sticking with Trubisky.
“We believe in Mitch,” said Pace. “Mitch knows he needs to be better. We need to be better around him. And that’s our goal.”
Apparently, the Bears believe in Foles more than they do Trubisky.
For now, it’s the bench for Trubisky. It’s not like the Bears can get a ton of draft picks for him.
“No disrespect but what is Mitch really worth?” a scout told The Athletic. “He’s done nothing up to this point.”