Bears finally, mercifully decided to bench Mitchell Trubisky

It finally happened, the Chicago Bears benched Mitchell Trubisky. 

Mitchell Trubisky’s time with the Chicago Bears might finally be over. After a putrid start against the Atlanta Falcons, the Bears yanked Trubisky after just 10 quarters into his 2020 season.

The switch was made official in the third quarter, and it’s a minor miracle that Matt Nagy was able to swallow his pride and make the call. One thing that has been working in favor of Trubisky this season is that he hasn’t been outright terrible but he hasn’t been very good.

At the time of his benching, Trubisky had thrown a touchdown and hadn’t turned the ball over (something Nick Foles did on his first drive under center). But look outside the box score and it’s not hard to see that the mediocrity with which Trubisky played was holding the Bears back.

It’s a move that was bound to happen, as the writing was on the wall for Trubisky and it wasn’t hard to read. As soon as the Bears traded for Foles this offseason, the clock was ticking and the only thing that delayed this from happening sooner was a 2-0 start by the Bears.

But doing just enough to get by is no longer good enough. We’ve seen the Bears do mental gymnastics to justify Trubisky starting, as he seems to be good for one good play per game. Week 1 against the Lions he had a clutch throw late to help the Bears win and before his benching, he had an epic run to help set up a score.

Think about that, how bad do you have to be for a team that is undefeated to swap you out and it’s not because of an injury. But that’s what Trubisky’s tenure in Chicago has been like — just good enough to convince the people that you could turn it around but not bad enough for an outright benching.

That’s been the tension with Trubisky, and why it’s seemingly been so hard to move on from him. The question now is whether or not Trubisky gets another shot. Foles is different, but he might not be wholly better than what the Bears already had. If Foles struggles — which he’s been wont to do in his career outside of Philadephia — the Bears will have to go back to Trubisky or admit that they’re punting on both this season and a future with Trubisky.

Chicago played this perfectly. It’d have been a lot harder to go from Foles back to Trubisky than what we’re witnessing now. Simply benching Trubisky doesn’t solve all of the Bears problems, but it’s a relief for fans who have spent the last few years twisting in the wind and hoping that something will change.