Chicago Bears head coach John Fox is either very good at hiding the Bears’ true intentions, or there really is no intent to change tracks regardless of the play from Mike Glennon and Mitchell Trubisky. The latter scenario feels more likely, and generates concern. The Bears need to give Trubisky the opportunity to show what he can do against better competition with the first string offense. This is not only because of how quickly Trubisky seems to be adjusting to the NFL stage, but also due to Glennon’s inability to move the first team offense effectively.

Let’s put traditional Bears fan “our backup quarterback is our best quarterback” bias aside. Based on his performances alone (try hard not to think about Trubisky – I know, I know) Glennon still looks like a liability; he hasn’t shown anything in preseason that would suggest he positions the Bears to win football games. Through two preseason games, or three quarters of play, Glennon produced 15 completions on 26 attempts (57.7% complete), 109 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Thirteen of those completions came from the most recent game in Arizona that Fox labeled an improvement. While that’s true, it’s difficult to perform worse than Glennon’s 0.0 passer rating in his Bears debut. As Chicago-Sun Times writer Adam Jahns cleverly pointed out, Glennon could’ve thrown the ball into the ground in Arizona and immediately left the stadium to “improve” on last week’s performance. Glennon’s stats obviously don’t jump off the page, and a 48.4 passer rating through two preseason games would have any fan base and team asking “is this really who we’re going to field when the regular season starts?” It would be a normal reaction to wonder if the team plans to evaluate potential superior talent to conduct the offense.

For skeptics that still think there’s too much Trubisky flavored Kool-Aid fueling the Glennon conclusions, let’s take a deeper dive to ensure the stats communicate the full story.

Four of Glennon’s completions (35 yards) and his only touchdown came after the Cardinals sent in their second team defense. Stated another way: against starters Glennon produced 11 completions on 22 attempts (50% complete), 74 yards (3.4 yards per attempt), no touchdowns, and two interceptions. Neither of the two interceptions were outstanding plays by the defense; Glennon made their job easier with poor decisions and questionable accuracy. If that’s not bad enough, he nearly added a third interception almost identical to the pick-six he threw in Denver two-thirds of the way through the second quarter in Arizona.

Glennon was only at the helm for 10 points scored by the Bears in the preseason. It could be argued that three of those were the result of preseason standout Tarik Cohen’s rushing rather than Glennon. To drive this point home, think about this: Glennon has contributed 14 points to the opposing team; seven from a pick-six, and seven more from a touchdown drive set up by his interception on the Cardinals’ four-yard line returned to the Bears’ 43-yard line.

What’s described is not a veteran quarterback that’s going to keep the offense afloat; it’s a quarterback that can’t push the ball downfield and turns the ball over because of poor decisions and accuracy issues. The tape doesn’t make any of it look prettier either. He looks slow and awkward running a bootleg, allowing the defense to catch up him or the throw. He looks inaccurate, so he’ll struggle as a pocket passer. It’s begun to look like the Bears don’t have the talent they thought they had with Glennon, so the logical thing to do is search for an alternative.

Circling back, hopefully it wasn’t too difficult to block out the dream of Trubisky being a franchise quarterback during the Glennon evaluation. If it wasn’t too difficult, it’s easy to conclude the Bears would need to consider a competition at quarterback – even if they didn’t have Trubisky. Fortunately, the Bears don’t need to do the “search for an alternative” part of dealing with poor quarterback play.

The Bears have the potential answer on their roster already. Using “potential” is no jab at Trubisky. He’s had two great performances that add up to 24 completed passes on 33 attempts (72.7% complete), 226 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. The use of the word “potential” is understanding the fact that Trubisky is going up against second and third team defenses – while also playing with second and third team offenses. Trubisky is a rookie and isn’t without his faults, however. While few, he’s also made questionable throws, but none of them qualify as egregious errors. He still made plays and put points on the board when under duress thanks to his great mobility and impressive accuracy. During game two in Arizona, Bears insider for WGN Radio Adam Hoge tweeted, “O-line not really helping Trubisky. Running game is dead. Too much pressure.” The tweet sounds like it’s rough outing for Trubisky, but he still finished the night with 6 completions on 8 attempts, 60 yards, and a touchdown. In his second showing, he again reinforced the idea that he needs exposure to better talent to see if he’s the real deal.

“Potential” could disappear if the Bears would admit Glennon may not be the right quarterback for the 2017 season. Glennon has shown that the first preseason game may not have been a one time occurrence. He continues to struggle and hasn’t shown anything new with more game time. Conversely, Trubisky displayed his version of consistency as well; the NFL stage still doesn’t appear too big, and he’s better than the second and third string talent he’s playing against. Throwing Trubisky in with the first team offense doesn’t guarantee success because there is a real possibility that he may struggle against a first team defense, but the Bears desperately need to find out. Trubisky performing well isn’t the only reason, the other – and perhaps bigger – is because Glennon simply doesn’t look like the starting quarterback the Bears need.

It’s very possible that neither quarterback propels the team to a winning record this year. However, the Bears won’t definitively know who provides the best opportunity to win if they ignore the fact that Glennon positioned himself to lose the starting job. Trubisky needs to see time with the first team offense against the Titans next Saturday. This would help deliver a clear idea of the best course of action, and there’s no better time to decide who the best quarterback is than when the games don’t count. This is what the preseason is for, and the Bears would be wise to consider a ride on the train that Glennon helped fuel.