Chicago Bears defender Mitchell Trubisky has argued with certainty why he should be the latest player to turn down his fifth-year option, only to cash in on the decision.
In the eyes of NFL executives, Trubisky recently played some of the best football in his career, arguing why Chicago will have to consider re-signing him.
Trubisky’s chances of returning to Chicago next season would be even higher if Bears (7-7) can win the last two games of the regular season and win a playoff spot.
Trubisky and Bears coach Matt Nagy have teamed up to set a 24-12 record in the games Trubisky started as he will face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Bears are 3-7 below Nagy in the Trubisky games did not start.
Trubisky’s performance and record left some in the Bears organization wondering what could have happened this season if general election no. 2 of 2017 would not have been scored when Bears was 3-0.
Chicago is 2-5 this season, with Nick Foles as the starting quarterback, averaging just 17 points in those games.
But since Trubisky was reintroduced as a starting defender, the offense has averaged 31 points in its last four games – and Chicago has returned to contention. The Bears, who control their own destiny thanks to the Cardinals’ upset loss on Saturday to the 49ers, visit the Jaguars on Sunday with a single victory before ending their season at home against rival Packers.
An NFL executive told ESPN this week that with the way Trubisky has shrunk, Chicago will now have to consider bringing him back – a possibility that seemed hard to imagine after being suspected this season.
Trubisky’s chances of staying in Chicago for a long time also appeared slim after Bears turned down his fifth-year option last May – two months after buying Foles in a deal with Jacksonville.
But Trubisky has a strong end to the season, joining Titans host Corey Davis, while the 2017 first-round draft picks up the option for a rejected fifth year and then thrives in 2020.
The change from the end of the season in Chicago to more action passes seems to have made a difference for the 26-year-old defender, who used his young players from Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet, Anthony Miller, David Montgomery and Allen Robinson. Trubisky completed 68% of his passes with eight touchdowns and just three interceptions in the last four games in Chicago.
The stretch drive has impressed some executives across the league, but one person pointed out that Trubisky’s recent success is not so new.
In the last three years, Trubisky’s winning percentage (66.7%) is better than that of a few other first-round defenders in the 2-4 period, such as Carson Wentz (62.5%), Deshaun Watson (55). , 6%), Baker Mayfield (53.3%) and Ryan Tannehill (45.8%).