Mitchell Trubisky enters a prove-it year with the Chicago Bears, and head coach Matt Nagy praises the incumbent starter for not shrinking from competition with Nick Foles.
“(Trubisky) has been really, really good in the fact that he’s taken this head-on,” Nagy said Monday on NFL Network. “He’s accepted it. He understands it. We’re all so competitive, but we’re human, too. There is a realness to the fact that ‘OK, you’re going to bring somebody else in here and have me compete’ initially it’s probably a shock. But then after that, it’s like, ‘Let’s go.’”
The Bears spent a fourth-round pick to land Foles in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Foles has trained under Nagy before and they became close friends during their time with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bears declined the fifth-year option on the 25-year-old Trubisky. But Nagy insists not all of the circumstantial evidence should point to Foles, 31, taking over as the starter.
“That’s the part that we as coaches say — you know what, this is how we’re going to make the Bears better,” Nagy said. “We’re going to have competition throughout our entire team. There are other competitions going on right now. Obviously, this is the focal point, and these guys have been great. I’m excited to see how it goes when we get to training camp, and we get to the preseason games and then to the season. They’ll both handle it really well. Again, when you’re honest with people, it makes things in life so much easier. These guys are competitors, and they’re good people. They’re going to make it work.”
Trubisky had offseason shoulder surgery and Foles missed more than half of last season with a broken collarbone.
It’s likely based on their history that Foles and Trubisky will both be on the field at some point this season for the Bears.
