He isn’t Patrick Mahomes or DeShaun Watson. Mitchell Trubisky is just the quarterback who was picked ahead of them.

So while his fellow 2017 draftees get ready for the NFL playoffs as division winners again, Trubisky heads into the offseason with Chicago Bears fans pointing their fingers at him for missing the postseason.

The Bears ranked 29th in the NFL in points per game (17.5) this season, but GM Ryan Pace on Tuesday offered a vote of confidence for the former No. 2 overall pick.

“Yes, we do (feel comfortable with Trubisky as the starter),” Pace told reporters. "I think with Mitch, as we go through it, we need more time in the coming months to evaluate everything, but the first thing that comes to mind for me is just consistency. You see moments, you see games, but for him (the issue is) stringing together better consistency. So you have the peaks and valleys. We just need to flatten that out.

“Mitch is our starter. We believe in Mitch, and we believe in the progress that he’s gonna continue to make.”

Mitch Trubisky’s Year 3 ranks among qualified QBs:

(career starts 27-41)

*32nd in YDS PER ATT (6.1)

*32nd in YDS PER COMP (9.6)

*30th in TD% (3.3)

*29th in QBR (40.6)

*28th in QB RTG (83.0)

*27th in YDS PER GM (209.2)



Your 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Bears starting quarterback. — Joe Ostrowski (@JoeO670) December 31, 2019

Trubisky finished with just 17 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, a dropoff from 2018 when Chicago won the NFC North with a 12-4 record and Trubisky had 24 TD passes and 3,223 yards passing. This season was a regression, and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich was among the assistants fired this week.

The Bears have until May to make a decision on Trubisky’s fifth-year option, which is expected to be around $20 million.

Prior to that will be free agency and April’s NFL draft, where Chicago surprised even their head coach by trading up for a quarterback. Because of the Kyle Mack trade, the Bears currently do not have a first-round pick.