Odds Shift, Foles Now Heavily Favored To Start Week 1 For The Bears

• Nick Foles is currently the heavy favorite to be the Bears starting QB Week 1 at -330 odds.
• The Bears announced an open quarterback competition, but odds shifted after Chicago declined Mitch Trubisky’s fifth-year option.

CHICAGO – Being a quarterback for the Chicago Bears has infamously been a tough job in the NFL. Ask fourth-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky, and you are sure to hear the same sentiment.

After the Bears traded for Nick Foles back in March, the scenario became apparent that Trubisky’s time under center could be coming to an unceremonious end.

Acquiring a veteran like Foles didn’t necessarily mean instant demise for the young QB, as most reports still maintained that Trubisky could be the starter for the 2020 season.

After all, he is the player most familiar with coach Matt Nagy’s system, has experience with passing coordinator Dave Ragone, and would be bringing in a sense of comfort running the offense at the beginning of the season.

However, that all changed this week when the Bears reportedly declined Trubisky’s fifth-year option, effectively announcing that he would be playing for a contract in 2020.

Oddsmakers quickly jumped on the news and the odds for betting on the Bears week 1 starter shifted dramatically towards Foles.

Seeing +215 odds is certainly no vote of confidence for the future of the Trubisky project in Chicago. Especially when the odds were much more even with Foles just a few weeks ago at the beginning of April, where they sat at -135 to +105.

The Bears still maintain that there is an open competition for the quarterback job, but faith in Trubisky is quickly deteriorating, by both the front office and the fanbase.

In his three seasons after going second overall in the 2017 draft, Trubisky has recorded 23 wins to his 18 losses, completing 63% of his passes for 48 touchdowns. The biggest blemish on his report card has been the 29 interceptions he has thrown over that time, in addition to being sacked an abysmal 93 times.

Last year, in what was supposed to be Trubisky’s strongest performance yet, instead saw regression from the former North Carolina Tar Heel. He recorded his lowest completion percentage so far as a professional, and threw for seven fewer touchdowns than in 2018, with significantly more passing attempts.

On the other hand, Nick Foles is coming off of a brief and incomplete stint as a Jacksonville Jaguar, that only saw him start four games before suffering a broken clavicle. Earlier in March, the Bears traded a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars for Foles.

The QB competition might be shorter than expected if all of this news is indicative of the Bears' decision process. While Foles is coming off an injury and has to adjust himself to the Bears offense, he still possesses the pedigree of a Super Bowl Champion, something that Trubisky has only dreamed of.