Imrem: The winning formula for QBs remains a mystery

Well, that's that.

First, Mike Glennon remains the Bears' starting quarterback.

Second, Mitch Trubisky will do his learning off the job.

Third, a QB controversy will continue raging outside of Halas Hall.

Oh, one more thing: Quarterbacks still tend to make dummies out of otherwise intelligent football observers.

Exhibit A: The headline on the cover page of nfl.com Sunday morning read, "Trubisky's first start."

Then, "After months of speculation, Mitchell Trubisky will finally get to show fans how he plays as a starter."

Must have been wishful thinking from a Tru-blue Trubisky fan excited that the rookie was scheduled to take snaps with the first team.

Trubisky never was going to start at Nashville and he didn't get into the game until the second half of the Bears' 19-7 preseason victory over the Titans.

Glennon did start, as promised, and on the first possession took the Bears on a 15-play, 96-yard touchdown drive over more than seven minutes.

Overall, Glennon began quickly and finished ordinarily; Trubisky began sloppily and finished fast; the split decisions should maintain some level of public clamor for Trubisky to start.

Henry Ford, of all people, comes to mind every time someone offers advice on the Bears' quarterback situation.

"If I had asked people what they wanted," the automotive pioneer is quoted as saying, "they would have said faster horses."

In other words, head coach John Fox better listen to nobody except maybe general manager Ryan Pace, who might be pulling the QB strings anyway.

The thing about quarterbacks is that every day, everybody has an opinion and nobody really knows for sure what to do with them.

Exhibit B: Tom Brady was a sixth-round draft choice and Ryan Leaf went second overall.

If you put the brains of all NFL geniuses, media included, in the head of a hummingbird, the thing still would fly backward in pursuit of a franchise quarterback.

(Not my line: Someone in sports said that about someone else in sports long ago.)

Take Bill Belichick, perhaps, with regrets to Theo Epstein, the smartest man in sports.

The Patriots coach inserted an inexperienced Brady at quarterback and won the Super Bowl that very year.

Smart move, except Drew Bledsoe likely would have kept the job if he hadn't been injured and nobody can be certain the Patriots would have won anything with him.

Fox has been offered all sorts of suggestions: Start Glennon and give Trubisky time to learn; start Trubisky and let him grow as he goes; revert to the single wing and let a running back do the throwing.

Look, Fox and Pace might make the right decision about their quarterbacks and it'll turn out wrong, or make the wrong decision and it'll turn out right.

History indicates that no quarterback formula is one size - or strategy - fits all.

Maybe one of the Bears' quarterbacks will get hurt and the other will play like Brady did in New England.

Or maybe they'll both play as poorly as most Bears quarterbacks have for the past half-century.

Football is a QB crap shoot the Bears haven't been able to master, but who knows; maybe they have two good ones this time around for a change.

Hey, it's preseason so you might as well be optimistic.

mimrem@dailyherald.com