Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace says the team is planning to have Mitchell Trubisky as its starting quarterback in 2020, but wouldn’t commit to exercising the club’s fifth year option on the former first round draft pick.
Pace, speaking to reporters ahead of the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, emphasized that the Bears will wait until closer to May’s deadline before making a decision on Trubisky’s future.
“That decision isn’t triggered until May, so our focus is on free agency and the combine,” Pace said. “I don’t think it’s that uncommon. We have more pressing needs, and we have time for that.’
The Bears have until May 30 to exercise the option on Trubisky’s contract for the 2021 season.
Despite his hesitation in saying whether the Bears will exercise the option, Pace said the team is still committed to Trubisky for the 2020 campaign.
“To be clear, yes…we believe in Mitch,” he said. “Mitch knows he needs to be better. We need to also be better around him, and that’s our goal.”
In his third season as the team’s starter, Trubisky completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 3,138 yards and 17 touchdowns. All three numbers represented a step down for Trubisky from the previous season, and ratcheted up questions about whether the team would look for a replacement for the quarterback in free agency or the upcoming NFL Draft.
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Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that he is ready to work with Trubisky on making improvements after a disappointing 2019 season, but said that he wants his quarterback to feel like he’s competing for his job.
“I want everybody to feel that way,” he said. “If you don’t, you feel content, (and) then you play content.”
Trubisky is also going through the recovery process after surgery on his left shoulder earlier in the offseason. Pace said that he expects Trubisky will be ready to go for offseason workouts with the Bears despite the injury, and said that tight end Trey Burton, wide receiver Anthony Miller and linebacker Roquan Smith should all be ready to go after suffering injuries during the 2019 campaign.
