Early in the off-season, the Chicago Bears made a big move in which they traded a fourth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Nick Foles.
Many thought this move would lead to the benching of Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, a player who the Bears traded multiple picks to move up to get in the 2017 NFL Draft.
In Trubisky’s first year as the starter in 2018, he was giving the Bears an impression that maybe they made the right move. Trubisky went 11-3 as a starter while throwing for 3,223 yards along with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In the playoffs, the Bears lost in the Wild Card round to the Philadelphia Eagles, who were led by Foles, thanks to the double-doink missed kick by kicker Cody Parkey.
The following year, Trubisky regressed. He went 8-7 as the starter throwing 3,138 yards and 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. After his year of struggling, the Bears decided to decline the fifth-year option. They can still offer him an extension during the season, or even after the season is over as well before free agency began. However, with the trade of Foles, it seemed like it wouldn’t happen and Foles would come in and take the job.
On September 6, that proved not to be the case.
Bears head coach Matt Nagy named Trubisky the starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Detroit Lions. “Mitch won the job,’ Nagy told reporters,’ and I think that’s very important for him, for us, for everybody to understand that he worked hard to get to this point.”
That begs the question now, what went wrong for Foles?
Foles had led the Eagles on a Super Bowl run after starting quarterback Carson Wentz went down with a knee injury in 2017. Foles would go on to beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
His overall stats for his entire time with the Eagles are a record of 21-11 with 58 touchdown and 23 interceptions.
Outside of Philadelphia, the struggles show. In his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, the then St. Louis Rams, and the Jaguars, Foles has a record of 5-11 with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
After being traded and the Bears taking on the final three years left of his four-year, $88 million contract, Trubisky having his fifth-year option declined, and even coach Nagy saying there would be an open competition for the starting job, Foles still couldn’t win the job.
There is no doubt that Trubisky is going to have to make sure he is playing at his best if he doesn’t want to get pulled for Foles. With a Super Bowl-caliber defense, any quarterback who can just move the ball effectively should have this team in prime position every year on a run for the title.
However, when it comes to Foles, it just seems that whatever magic he brings to an NFL roster, it is only shown when he is in the city of brotherly love.
LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 18: Nick Foles #9 of the Chicago Bears throws a pass during training camp at Halas Hall on August 18, 2020 in Lake Forest, Illinois. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh-Pool/Getty Images)
