Mitch Trubisky fumbled away his career in Chicago, and Bears playoff hopes

The Bears had a chance to climb back into the playoff race by beating the Lions, but Mitch Truibsky’s careless turnover doomed Chicago to a loss.

Sometime soon, the Bears will need to admit that Mitch Trubisky isn’t the quarterback to lead them to future success. His fatal fourth quarter fumble in Sunday’s loss to the lowly Lions may finally signal the end of the quarterback’s career in Chicago.

For three quarters and change, it looked as if the Bears were ready to rejoin the AFC playoff race. Then Trubisky dropped back to pass with just 1:54 in the game and gifted the Lions the turnover they desperately needed to secure a victory. The Lions’ offense promptly took the field and drove into the end zone to drop the Bears to a thoroughly mediocre record of 5-6 on the season.

Trubisky’s overall play on the afternoon was enough to put the Bears in position to win the crucial game, but he failed to eliminate the error that torpedoed every good thing he’d done during the game. That’s a common theme for his career with the Bears. It’s the main reason why Trubisky lost his starting job to Nick Foles to begin the regular season.

Head coach Matt Nagy’s decision to place his faith in Trubisky once again might ultimately cost him his job. Foles wasn’t lighting the world on fire as the team’s starting quarterback, but that won’t stop fans and media members for criticizing Nagy for going back to Trubisky under center. Ironically, the decision to draft Trubisky at No. 1 overall in the draft sealed Nagy’s fate in Chicago years ago.

The Bears may still have an outside shot to climb back into the playoff race and save both Trubisky and Nagy’s respective jobs, but those hopes are on life support. It’s very likely both men will be looking for jobs outside of the Windy City during the offseason. Each will probably limp away from Chicago being labeled as “damaged goods” by most NFL executives.

Trubisky will draw interest from other teams once the Bears finally let him go, but no one in Chicago will be sad to see him leave. His penchant for fatal turnovers is a tired refrain for Bears fans and team officials.