Chicago Bears: Nick Foles is the answer to the question at quarterback

Nick Foles should be the Chicago Bears quarterback for the rest of 2020.

Well, has the collective heart rate of Chicago Bears fans gone down yet? Three games in and they’ve had three crazy wins. Three games in and they’ve made history. They were the first team in NFL history to overcome deficits of 16 points or more in the fourth quarter twice to win. They’ve done so in two of the three weeks of the 2020 season.

To put what the Bears have done into more perspective, since 1940 teams with a 16+-point lead in the fourth quarter own a record of 3,682-39-4. That’s how amazing the Bears’ comebacks are.

In the Bears’ latest comeback, quarterback Nick Foles came off the bench to throw the ball around and get touchdowns. He threw so many that he had two of them reversed and he still had three that weren’t.

When the quarterback battle between Foles and Mitchell Trubisky began, I wrote that Trubisky would have to completely collapse in camp for him not to win the battle. General manager Ryan Pace is invested in the kid. Trubisky didn’t, and he won a battle that was close.

I also stated that Trubisky would have a short leash. As soon as it looked like he was returning to the same struggling quarterback, head coach Matt Nagy would pull him quickly. Despite being 2-0 for the season, Nagy pulled the starter.

Nick Foles came in and got the Chicago Bears offense moving

The move worked, as Foles sparked the offense. One of the biggest criticisms of Trubisky is his accuracy on deep passes. For the season, his biggest completion went for 28 yards. In the second half of Sunday’s game, Foles had completions of 28 yards, 29 yards, 30 yards and 37 yards.

Foles gets the ball moving downfield. With Trubisky, the Bears went on a lot of long drives. It’s nice to do that, but you cannot expect to score touchdowns consistently by throwing four or five-yard passes. Sometimes you need big plays to move downfield. Foles does that.

Foles is also more relaxed in the pocket. He isn’t as mobile as Trubisky, but he won’t panic the way Trubisky does. Even when he has a clean pocket, Trubisky has happy feet and doesn’t go through his progressions. He worries about pressure that isn’t there. Foles stays calm and waits for the play to develop and scans the field for open receivers. Then he finds him and makes the throw.

Look at what happened on the game-winning throw. As the story goes, Foles told Anthony Miller to just run to the “L” in the end zone if there is a blitz. There was, and Foles got the ball right to, you guessed it, the “L” in the end zone.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1310313476577882112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Foles also does a good job of getting the ball to the receiver and allowing him to make a play. Trubisky’s passes go too high, behind the receiver, or too low. The receivers need to make adjustments just to make the catch, and that prevents them from getting yards after the catch.

In practices during camp, Trubisky doesn’t have pressure on him. The defense isn’t rushing him so he can make plays. When the pressure is on, however, he struggles. It appears that the game is still too fast for him. Foles doesn’t have that problem.

Trubisky still has to be ready, though. With Foles staying in the pocket so long, he tends to take big hits and get hurt. That’s what caused his downfall with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He stayed in the pocket, got the ball out for a deep touchdown pass, but took a hit that fractured his collarbone. That basically ended his season.

Barring injury, Foles is the quarterback the Chicago Bears need going forward. He gives Chicago the best chance to win games. Despite some claiming a quarterback controversy, there shouldn’t be any. Foles is clearly the better choice to start.