Bears head coach Matt Nagy officially named Mitchell Trubisky the team’s starting quarterback on Sunday and that means Nick Foles will be the backup in Chicago.
Many predicted the roles would be reversed when the Bears sent a fourth-round pick to Jacksonville for the quarterback early in the offseason, but a truncated practice schedule and a lack of preseason games may have helped the Bears decide to stick with what they knew for the start of the season.
Foles said Sunday that while everything wasn’t perfect, he “felt like it was pretty even throughout the whole thing” and didn’t know what Nagy was going to do when they had their conversation about the starting job. Once he found out, Foles said he’d draw on past experience as a backup in order to continue helping the team.
“I’ve just learned to embrace it the best I can through the ups and downs, so whatever wisdom I can give [Trubisky] as it pertains to the emotions of the game, as it pertains to the plays going into the game, the philosophy, the philosophy, the thought process, how you do third downs, how I think during games. So whatever it is, I look forward to helping him in any way possible,” Foles said, via the team’s website.
Foles’ greatest moments as an NFL quarterback came when he was thrust into action because Carson Wentz got hurt in Philadelphia. That’s a reminder that Foles’ story in Chicago may not be over just because he’s on the sideline for the first chapter.