Bears coach John Fox says 'no' to Mitch Trubisky for now

Bears coach John Fox says ‘no’ to Mitch Trubisky for now

By Adam L. Jahns

Bears rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky watches from the sideline. (Getty)

TAMPA, Fla. — All that was missing from coach John Fox’s defense of quarterback Mike Glennon on Sunday was an impersonation of Lovie Smith.

“Mike is our quarterback” is all Fox needed to say after Glennon threw two interceptions, including a pick-six, and lost a fumble in the Bears’ ugly 29-7 loss to the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

“Everybody wants to blame somebody, but that was a team defeat, and we all had our hands in it,” Fox said. “That wasn’t the Mike Glennon Bears; it was the Chicago Bears. It was our whole team.”

That said, Glennon’s problems in the first half are what doomed the Bears. Three consecutive possessions ended with turnovers by Glennon: an interception on a throw behind tight end Dion Sims, a lost fumble on a sack by defensive end Noah Spence and a pick-six by cornerback Robert McClain.

Will Fox think about turning to rookie Mitch Trubisky next week at quarterback?

“Ah, no,” Fox said. “I don’t think — not even seeing the tape yet — that you can pin that on the quarterback.”

Was there any consideration to put Trubisky in at all?

“Ah, not really,” Fox said.

Fox seemingly pointed to everything but Glennon (31-for-45, 301 yards, 76.2 passer rating, touchdown) for the Bears’ defeat.

Without naming wide receiver Josh Bellamy, Fox said that he didn’t run “a real clean route on the out cut” on Glennon’s pick-six in the second quarter. It allowed McClain to undercut Glennon’s throw, intercept it and return it 47 yards for a touchdown.

Fox highlighted rookie running back Tarik Cohen’s muffed punt, saying “Glennon wasn’t even on the field then.” He pointed to the Bears’ struggles running the ball (16 carries, 20 yards).

And Fox said the defense’s inability to get off the field on third down was the result of “sloppy” technique that turned into holding penalties.

Glennon was much harder on himself — “I have to do a better job taking care of the football and giving us a chance to win,” he said — but his defenders continued to back him in the locker room. One by one, players expressed their faith in Glennon.

“Y’all might not have confidence in Mike, [but] we have confidence in Mike,” wide receiver Kendall Wright said.

“Mike is doing a great job, man,” Sims added. “Everything is not going to be perfect. We’ll just lean on him and correct the mistakes.”

With Fox being reluctant to fault Glennon, he was asked what he liked about his quarterback’s performance.

“Yeah, I thought he made some good throws,” Fox said. “He hung in there. He got hit enough. But I don’t think that loss was all about the quarterback.”

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Email: ajahns@suntimes.com