My Apology to the Bears

What seems like an eternity ago (even though according to the time stamp it was only on August 30th), I wrote that the Bears were taking the right approach with Mitchell Trubisky. I wrote this, largely, because it made sense to allow Trubisky to develop at his own pace while providing two layers of redundancy ahead of him (Glennon and Sanchez). I was thinking about the future of the quarterback position in Chicago, and that’s where I was wrong. I missed a few spots.

I owe an apology to the rest of the Chicago Bears. I failed to adequately consider what starting Mike Glennon was going to do to their development, and (in some cases) to their health. In the modern NFL, with all of the rules in place to favor the offense, Glennon still manages to hang his receivers out to dry time and again. The man has an actual gift for finding new ways of putting them in danger. He holds the ball too long and lets defenses set themselves, he completes across the middle in completely predictable ways that open up receivers to brutal shots, and his passes that do connect frequently lead them into danger.

I hereby apologize to Kevin White, who got hurt because Glennon took longer to complete to him (at the line of scrimmage) than it takes to get a sandwich some places. I apologize to all of the free agent signings who are trying to revitalize their career only to have #8 be their only avenue to building their tape and thereby their vitas. I apologize to the tight ends and offensive linemen who are somehow supposed to keep safe a man who attracts sacks like Peyton Manning attracted endorsements. Most of all, I apologize to Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen whose careers will likely be shorter simply because of the extra hits they take as other teams sell out against the run because do they do not need to care about the passing attack.

I apologize to Leonard Floyd, who has the potential to be an astonishing pass rusher but who is left in a weird hybrid role because when the offense has no identity, the defense has to be ready to do everything. I apologize to Hicks, and Goldman, and Bullard, and everyone else who anchors that defensive line. How brutal must it be for them to put their bodies out there knowing that if they are very good and if they do everything right they will achieve half the results of the other team’s defense, because the offense is just inept. The veterans in the secondary (Demps and Cooper and so on), I feel marginally less guilty about, because they are pros and they will do their jobs without direct risk of injury. However, I apologize to Eddie Jackson for asking him to come into the NFL and to have his responsibility be anchoring a secondary that will get burned every game — the other team can take as many chances as they want, because Chicago’s own chances won’t matter.

When I thought it was a good idea to give Trubisky a chance to develop, I knew Glennon would be bad for the Chicago Bears. I wrote this about Glennon in the opening days of the season: “even if he is poor, he provides cover for the player who matters most.” That was wrong. I was wrong.

The cover Glennon provides Trubisky no longer matters, because he is getting guys hurt, and he’s hurting this team’s development in a way that needs to stop. Now. Bring out Sanchez if not Trubisky. Find a McCown brother somewhere. There has to be one who needs a job.

For now, though, I apologize to the Chicago Bears.