Bears try to prevent QB controversy between Glennon, Trubisky

Chicago looking to find enough practice reps for Glennon and Trubisky.

Matt Marton—X02835
May 12

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Fitting both Mike Glennon and Mitch Trubisky in with the Chicago Bears might be a problem, but not in the sense popularized by post draft reports.The narrative — accurate or not — for Bears quarterbacks is Glennon resents the selection of Trubisky, or at least the inability of the team to tell him they were spending the second pick of the draft for his potential replacement.When Trubisky came in for Bears rookie camp on Friday, it seemed more of a time and motion problem for the Bears coaching staff than one of personalities, egos or hurt feelings.”It’s just my job to come in and be a great teammate and continue to make the quarterback room better, make those guys better and get them ready to play,” Trubisky said.”And in my own game, just continue to strive and get better every single day. It’s my job to come in here and be a good teammate. And when I’m out here with the rookies in rookie camp, be the starter and run the show.”Finding the time to groom Trubisky, while also getting Glennon up to starting levels in the offense is a problem coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains must address. Having backups Mark Sanchez and Connor Shaw on board only adds to the problem.Simply, there aren’t enough reps available when full squad practices begin with OTAs.”We have to be really smart with our plan and how we practice, because it’s not just one guy, it’s two guys and there’s Mark and there’s Connor,” Loggains said. “So we need to make sure that we’re getting everyone ready to play.”One possibility might be longer practices, but the CBA limits practice time.”We’re going to look at every different avenue,” Loggains said. “Those are things that we’re going to have to look at and look into. We’re still playing with a couple ideas.”I feel like we have a good grasp of those things and we’re going to look at every different option, every different avenue and be flexible. Some things may be different day-to-day that way.”Loggains had to go through quarterback development issues in the past with Cleveland and Tennessee. He pointed to Vince Young and Kerry Collins, Jake Locker and Matt Hasselbeck as examples.He called it all an issue of “… just making sure we do what’s right by Mike and giving him enough opportunities to get ready, and develop Mitch, as we give Connor and Mark Sanchez reps, as well.”At least from what the Bears saw initially, Trubisky isn’t overwhelmed by the task of learning a pro offense or standing under center rather than in the shotgun.His initial reaction to seeing the offense and its concepts was positive.”It’s all about allowing the quarterback to make great decisions, getting the ball out, being accurate and getting it to the playmakers,” Trubisky said. “It just seems like it fits my abilities so far.”Trubisky has immersed himself in the offense.”I pretty much don’t stop studying until I feel comfortable,” he said. “And then I go to bed, wake up and do it again. I just keep going over it. I like flash cards. That works for me for formations and stuff like that. Pairing things together because, I mean, there’s a reason why within the playbook and why we do things, and it matches up.”It’s been going smooth. I love the offense so far. I’m just trying to master it one day at a time.”After the first day of practice, Fox wasn’t about to confirm anything more than Trubisky’s talent.”I don’t know that we’re quite ready after one practice to define his career, but obviously I think we put a lot of work into the evaluation and again saw a lot of the reasons why we decided to pick him where we did today,” Fox said.”He’s very accurate, very smart, he’s got good football character, as far as transferring things from the meeting room to the field. And I think we saw that today.”Harmony in the quarterback room will be an issue to be addressed at a later date. Fox sees bringing in a starter and an heir apparent all at once as normal NFL job competition.”I don’t know that it’s a new concept,” he said. “I’d rather not make a big deal out of something I don’t think it’s a big deal.”Trubisky said he hadn’t even met the other quarterbacks as of the start of rookie camp.”But we’ve been texting — that’s the day and age,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to meeting him. But I’ve been talking to him, and he says it’s a great time to be in because we’re all learning the playbook together.”And that could be the real problem, rather than pride or hurt feelings.–A question almost as big as quarterback for the Bears is wide receiver, where there is complete inexperience.They’ve changed Kevin White’s jersey number from 13 to 11, perhaps to chase away bad luck that put him on the shelf with broken legs his first two NFL seasons.But White is being counted on to be the big play threat with only unproven players and castoffs comprising the rest of the crew.”I hate being generic, but Kevin needs to get better every day,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “Obviously he hadn’t played as much football as we would’ve liked him to play. He’s done a good job out here in the offseason program right now and it really is as simple as getting comfortable and getting healthy and learning the offense and learning the new wrinkles we’ve put in and doing a good job with that stuff.”Loggains said so far so good with White, but the rest of the group is an issue, as well.”It really is a process for us, and we had a bunch of guys that had an opportunity to play because of injury last year, and they needed that experience because there’s a lot of guys in there that some people — they’re not big names.”And people don’t know who they are at times. Other opponents do, I think that those guys did a good job filling in. Cam Meredith, Josh Bellamy, DT (Deonte Thompson), they got to play more than they ever got to play at wide receiver. So that’s the biggest thing and we have to continue to grow off that.”Kendall Wright and Markus Wheaton are veteran acquisitions who have to prove themselves again.”And Kevin White being back in the mix, Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright, we got some vets in there that have played in the NFL and create great competition that should make everyone better,” Loggains said.–As someone who worked closely with Jay Cutler, offensive coordinator Loggains believes the former Bears quarterback can make the transition to the broadcast booth — even if it means he’s doing a Bears game.”I’m perfectly ready for Jay to criticize our offense,” Loggains said. “I’ll hear it before you (media) guys do through text message. I think he’s gonna be wonderful.”Jay’s an extremely talented person. He’s a smart person. Jay will be successful in whatever he chooses to do and I think he’s going to do a wonderful job.”–Rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky was able to throw in practice to second-round pick Adam Shaheen, the 6-foot-6, 278-pound tight end from Division II Ashland.”I’ve never thrown to a guy that big,” Trubisky said. “He has huge range to catch the ball, so it makes it a lot easier for me.”Fox acknowledged there will be questions over whether a Division II player can contribute immediately.”Yeah, you know the whole level of competition is something you look at and evaluate in our league, but I think with Adam I saw the same thing here today — still the size and the quickness and the length that he has regardless of what school he played at,” coach John Fox said. “You know that transfers here and I thought it did today.”–Safety Eddie Jackson of Alabama, the fourth-round pick, wasn’t ready to participate in full because he’s still rehabbing from a broken leg.”I think he’s feeling better,” coach John Fox said. “He’s still in part of his rehab as far as timeline. We did some things with him but we’re going to make sure he’s healed and ready before we put him out there.”–Fourth-round draft pick Tarik Cohen immediately displayed some of the speed and moves the Bears saw from him leading up to his selection. He did a 180-degree spin out of a crowd and then burst up the middle on a running play.”You know again he’s quick, he’s explosive, he’s an outstanding athlete,” Fox said. “I think he is short in stature but there’s been some shorter guys have great careers here in the National Football League.”