The prevailing assumption suggests that the Chicago Bears didn't trade for Nick Foles to sit him behind Mitchell Trubisky, but rather to supplant the incumbent starting quarterback.
Joining NFL Network's Good Morning Football on Monday, Bears coach Matt Nagy reiterated that Trubisky has handled the situation with aplomb and expects the two QBs to compete for the job whenever offseason workouts begin.
"(Trubisky) has been really, really good in the fact that he's taken this head-on," Nagy said. "He's accepted it. He understands it. We're all so competitive, but we're human, too. There is a realness to the fact that 'OK, you're going to bring somebody else in here and have me compete' initially it's probably a shock. But then after that, it's like, 'let's go.'"
Over the past several weeks, Nagy has repeatedly discussed the expectation that Foles and Trubisky will compete for the starting job. However, after the Bears declined the fifth-year option on Trubisky, signs seem clear that a changing of the guard is coming in Chicago.
The expected outcome in any competition is that Foles should outperform Trubisky, who is coming off a rough season.
Nagy, however, insists that Trubisky will get a legit shot to keep the gig, and noted the 25-year-old quarterback has handled Foles' addition like the organization had hoped.
"That's the part that we as coaches say you know what this is how we're going to make the Bears better," Nagy said. "We're going to have competition throughout our entire team. There are other competitions going on right now. Obviously, this is the focal point, and these guys have been great. I'm excited to see how it goes when we get to training camp, and we get to the preseason games and then to the season. They'll both handle it really well. Again, when you're honest with people, it makes things in life so much easier. These guys are competitors, and they're good people. They're going to make it work."
Given the injury history of both quarterbacks, there is a good chance that Nagy knows he'll probably need each to play at some point in 2020.