Bears QB Nick Foles: 'There was never a discussion about opting out'

Chicago Bears quarterback Nick Foles was never opting out of the 2020 NFL season regardless of what some internet sleuths had to say on the matter. 

Rumors popped up on social media that the Super Bowl LII MVP may elect to sit because of the coronavirus pandemic, but he told reporters on Friday that was never an option. 

"There was never a discussion about opting out," Foles said, per Nick Shook of NFL.com. "My wife and I both felt great pursuing being in Chicago and being here."

Foles, a Super Bowl hero with the Philadelphia Eagles, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March 2019, but he suffered a broken left clavicle in his debut game with the club. The 31-year-old returned from injury but only made four total appearances, as he lost his spot atop the depth chart to fan-favorite Gardner Minshew. 

Jacksonville traded Foles to the Bears in March, and he's expected to compete with 2017 second-overall draft pick Mitch Trubisky for the starting job. 

Foles discussed the QB battle, via Shook: 

"A lot of people talk about the quarterback competition -- it's just like I always say, everyone goes into game one wanting to win a game. Saying you want to win a game doesn't do anything. You have to do the little things each and every day, whether it's your workout, whether it's your pre-practice routine, whether it's when (Bears head coach Matt) Nagy calls a play in practice, just executing that play. ... The biggest problem is we watch the other guy and he makes a big throw and you think to yourself 'Oh man, now I've got to throw a big throw' and then you don't even read the play out."

Foles continued: 

"...I'm just going out there, and if I'm working the second team, first team, third team, let's just play ball, man. I love this offense, I love the verbiage, I've been in this offense, I know what I can do in this offense. But all that stuff gives me is wisdom — wisdom to go out there and help my teammates, to help Mitch, to help Tyler (Bray). I'm not keeping secrets from Mitch. I want to help Mitch, so if there's a play that I ran a lot and I know a lot, I'm gonna give him that information just like I know he will with me because we're working to help each other.

"When he makes a great throw I'm going to be right there to slap him a five and then they'll probably have to sanitize our hands, but I'm gonna do it."

Whatever happens, Foles and Trubisky would do well to follow health and safety protocols commonly ignored by MLB players during the first week of that season conducted amid the uncontrolled virus outbreak.