Bears opt for trial by fire for Mitchell Trubisky

Pretty sweet deal for Mike Glennon. He’s getting paid $16 million for the 2017 season, and it’s most likely already over for him after four games — and he didn’t even have to get injured.

When the Bears drafted Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick back in April, the assumption was that Glennon was merely a stopgap starter until the rookie was ready. Of course, there’s no clear answer for when a quarterback drafted at the top of the first round should assume the reins.

Last season, Carson Wentz was the Week 1 starter for the Eagles, played well and has progressed nicely into his second season. There was concern in 2016 about Jared Goff because he hadn’t taken over for the lowly Rams despite being the top pick that year and there being no other viable starter on the team. Goff didn’t end up starting his first game last season until Week 11. He struggled considerably, and the Rams lost all the games he started, though that was hardly exclusively on him. Nevertheless, the bust label was being bandied about extensively.

Yet here were are in 2017 and Goff suddenly looks like he might be the superior quarterback. It certainly helps to have better receivers, as well as a young coach renowned for shrewd play design and developing passers. It’s yet another reminder that quarterback development is a process and doesn’t always proceed the same way for every player.

Trubisky faces a difficult situation. The Bears are beyond depleted at receiver, having lost Cameron Meredith in the preseason and Kevin White in Week 1. The running game has been a pleasant surprise, buoyed by rookie Tarik Cohen. The problem is it’s not quite dominant enough for Chicago to hide its quarterback against most teams. Trubisky is going to have to make plays, as Glennon showed that middling game managing isn’t enough to win consistently with this roster.

In fact, there will be little hiding Trubisky in any sense of the word. His debut will come on Monday Night Football against the Vikings. It marks the first time a first-round pick makes his starting debut on MNF since Aaron Rodgers in 2008, though Rodgers had been in the NFL for three full seasons by that point. Colin Kaepernick made his starting debut on Monday Night Football in 2012, though he was a second-round pick, so this particular stat benefits from quite a bit of qualification. Either way, a lot of attention will be on the rookie given that his performance will be the main storyline between two teams that look unlikely to be major players come playoff time.

Even a disastrous outing in his opening game wouldn’t be the end of the world. That’s the nice thing about being a top-two pick — the franchise has invested so much in you, you have time to grow on the job with little threat of being pulled. The danger with a young quarterback is establishing bad habits that will hurt his maturation down the road. Because Trubisky has superior mobility than Glennon, as well as a background in college using run-pass options at North Carolina, the temptation may be to rely a little too heavily on that to give the offense an added edge. That’s fine for now, but now isn’t so much the point. The Bears are building to the future with Trubisky, and that means presumably developing passing chops and limiting hits.

Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains is understandably keeping his plans tight to the vest for now. It’s somewhat surprising that the Bears would turn to Trubisky this early given the options available at receiver, but, like Goff, maybe learning with the least hospitable conditions imaginable will pay off in the not-too-distant future. That’s the best Chicago can hope for right now.