Imrem: Bears QB Mitch Trubisky's rock-star tour coming to Prospect High
Thursday night, for a couple of hours, they'll be the Mount Prospect Bears.
Just like last year they were the Gurnee Bears when they practiced at Warren High School.
The difference is that Prospect High is the next stop in the rest of Mitch Trubisky's football career.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Trubisky has made the Chicago Bears relevant again, or at least a curiosity. Being debated not just locally but on national shoutfests is whether he is all hype or legitimate hope.
This Prospect practice is big stuff. One suspicion is that the World Series-champion Cubs scheduled a day game to avoid competing head-on for attention with the Bears' rookie quarterback.
Seriously, wherever Trubisky goes this week, he's a walking, talking, throwing, rolling out, rocking on legend.
Mike Glennon, the Bears' so-called starting quarterback, is about as popular as a soda tax; Trubisky, the Bears' QB of the future, is about as popular as a rock star.
The clamor is escalating toward a cacophony that Trubisky should be ordained the Bears' starting quarterback.
Maybe Trubisky should be. Then again, maybe everyone should relax and let the situation sort itself out the next few weeks.
The discussion rages after one preseason game in which Glennon played a couple of discouraging series and Trubisky played little more than a couple of encouraging quarters.
That's all it takes in this town for a young quarterback to inspire visions of Bowls, both Pro and Super.
Fans at Prospect will be able to scan the field for glimpses of a currently third-string quarterback with a strong arm, nimble feet and accurate passes.
Boys will want to be Trubisky. Girls will want to marry him. Adults will want to go “Tru-u-u-u!” instead of “b-o-o-o-o!”
Tru-u-u-u-bisky will have ample time later to validate himself as the tru-u-u-u-th. For now, those two-plus quarters against a collection of Broncos future Uber drivers were enough to stir fans' imagination.
Remember, this team went 3-13 in 2016 and has very few veterans whose names you'd be proud to wear on the back of your Bears shirt.
A good guess is that “T-R-U-B-I-S-K-Y” jerseys outsold all other team merchandise combined this week.
It should be pointed out that Trubisky's debut was the most promising for the Bears since — yikes! — Jay Cutler's in 2009.
During Cutler's first preseason game as a Bear in Soldier Field he flashed an even stronger arm than Trubisky's, at least as much mobility and overall remarkable physical talent.
I looked down from the press box that night, gasped and bought everything that Cutler was selling.
Eight years later Cutler retired, then left retirement for the Dolphins and the opportunity to prove down there that he is more than the disappointment he was up here.
Trubisky already demonstrates some of the intangibles Cutler lacked, making it easy to be excited about the Bears' future of a franchise that hasn't had a superstar quarterback since the 1940s.
Any fresh face is enough to make the faithful believe he is everything they crave in a QB.
So Thursday night in Mount Prospect a rookie named Mitch Trubisky's presence will be as exciting as a Super Bowl trophy to be won later.
Oh, one last thing: “Tru-u-u-u-u-u-u-u — u!”