Chase Daniel to likely start for Bears against Giants

The Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky is still working to be 100 percent recovered from a throwing shoulder injury suffered two weeks ago, so Chicago is preparing to start Chase Daniel against the Giants this Sunday, reports NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

According to Garafolo, the Bears feel Trubisky “could play right now” but they’d rather he be as close to fully recovered as possible before returning. In other words, they (justifiably) feel they can not only beat the Giants without Trubisky, but the Bears would also rather take every precaution to make sure he’s ready for the rest of a more contentious end of the regular season. At this time of year with the advantageous position the Bears sit in at the top of the NFC North, who can blame them?

Daniel is a savvy veteran that just recently helped the Bears to an emotional victory over the Lions on Thanksgiving despite not having started a game since 2014. The Giants are arguably of at least the same caliber of team as Detroit, so Daniel should certainly be capable of managing the Bears to another win.

It doesn’t pay to unnecessarily put your entire season on the line and in harm’s way with Trubisky if you think another week of rest helps him get back to speed. There’s too much to lose from the Bears’ perspective in re-inserting him into the lineup against one of the NFL’s worst teams. If this was a must-win in New Jersey, the Bears would undoubtedly treat it differently. At 8-3 with a comfortable cushion and three other far more difficult games in December on the horizon, it’s probably best to play it safe.

This kind of precautionary work with Trubisky matches up with how the Bears dealt with previous injuries to Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson earlier in 2018. One could’ve easily surmised that those two “could’ve” came back earlier than they did. Instead, the Bears preferred to rest two of their most important players in games against the Jets and Bills where they didn’t need Mack and Robinson to come out on top.

We’ll see how this situation develops concerning Trubisky’s shoulder as next week rolls in, especially with the heavyweight Rams coming to town for a bout of NFC supremacy. You know, a game where you need your starter to beat one of the NFL’s best teams. Until proven otherwise, only then anticipate the possibility of the young quarterback’s safe return back to action.

Robert is the Editor-in-chief of The Blitz Network (subscribe here!), the managing editor of Windy City Gridiron, and writes for a host of other fine publications. You can follow him on Twitter @RobertZeglinski.