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The pitch for Mitch: Bears ought to give Trubisky one more shot

What a waste.

That's how it feels right now if you're a Chicago Bears fan.

Your team has one of the best defenses in the league - one that has completely throttled two of the NFL's best running backs in back-to-back weeks.

Your team also has the best return man in the league in Cordarrelle Patterson, a decent field goal kicker, a solid punter and good coverage teams.

Combine all of that with even a mediocre offense and there's little doubt coach Matt Nagy's squad would be fighting it out with Green Bay for control of the NFC North.

But that's not the case. Not by a mile.

Instead, the Bears entered the bye week licking their wounds, victims of a four-game losing streak that has them at 5-5.

It's now up to the coaching staff to get this thing turned around - to make sure the right players are in the right spots the rest of the way.

And that means turning things back over to Mitch Trubisky - assuming he's healthy, of course - against the Packers Nov. 29.

Nick Foles has had his chance to lead this team and it's not working. Too many throws to open receivers are off target and there have been far too many interceptions.

Now, it's obviously not all his fault. On any given play, Foles has no clue if he'll have one second or eight to find an open receiver. So he's getting trigger-happy and settling on shorter routes when longer ones are developing.

Foles has been sacked 14 times in the last four games and has thrown at least 1 interception eight of nine appearances. He has 1,852 passing yards, but let's remember that a good chunk of those came against a dreadful Falcons offense in Week 3 and during garbage time against the Titans in Week 9.

Of course, there's absolutely no guarantee that Trubisky's return will make the slightest difference.

But it can't be any worse than what we saw against the Titans and Vikings.

This bye week should give the Bears plenty of time to retool the offense around the much more mobile Trubisky.

Get him outside the pocket. Tell him to run whenever necessary. Stop limiting who this guy is and let him play on instinct.

Trubisky ran for 421 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2018 while also throwing for 3,223 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Last season his rushing totals plummeted to 193 yards and he threw just 17 TD passes. And that hardly tells the whole story as 12 of those touchdowns came in just four games. He had just 5 TDs and 7 INTs in the other 10 contests (removing Week 4 when he was hurt early).

Trubisky's mobility - if used properly - can make defenses second-guess themselves, something that's not happening at all right now.

"Anytime you talk about the ability of the quarterback to extend the play, there's a lot of advantages to that," said Dave Ragone, the Bears' passing game coordinator. "If you have a quarterback that can move and can get first downs or extend plays, the defense has to play it differently. ... They can't be as aggressive."

Which means the Bears' beleaguered offensive line can protect better. Which will allow receivers more time to get open.

Add it all up and it makes perfect sense to give Trubisky one more shot.

Bottom line: You selected the kid No. 2 overall. He's dying for one more chance.

So give it to him.

See if the competitor in him comes out and the quarterback you believed you drafted finally emerges.

• Twitter: @johndietzdh

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