Will Nick Foles’ comfort with Bears coaches and scheme be his advantage? (2024)

In the world of speculation and best guesses, Nick Foles had seemingly been demoted in the nearly four months since he last spoke to the media.

Foles hasn’t been in Chicago to work with Bears teammates like Mitch Trubisky. He didn’t get OTAs and minicamp. There are no preseason games. All those factors would seem to benefit the incumbent to get the Week 1 nod.

Matt Nagy even acknowledged that Foles would enter camp at a disadvantage of sorts, but that’s not the way the ninth-year QB sees it.

“I wouldn’t say disadvantage is the right word,” Foles said in his Friday Zoom with reporters. “I just say, you know what, that’s just the situation. The situation is what it is. My focus is acclimating to being in Chicago, getting to meet a lot of people at this facility, trying my best to memorize names which is impossible with so many people but I’m working on it.”

On April 4, Foles had his debut conference call with the Bears beat. The trade was official, we were still three weeks away from the draft and it sure made sense why Foles was their target. This was about familiarity, something that earned extra value in “these times.”

We have had no OTAs or minicamp to judge this quarterback competition, one that Nagy said could not take place over Zoom. Once all the spring practices got banged, followed by preseason games, the pendulum shifted to Trubisky.

A Zoom press conference shouldn’t really alter the horse race — though, it is apparent how comfortable Foles is, even in an uncomfortable and new situation, a testament to his experience and being on his fifth NFL team —but with Foles back in the conversation, we can’t ignore the possibility that he wins the job.

What if it’s a fait accompli, for coaches Nagy, Bill Lazor and John DeFilippo, that as long as Trubisky doesn’t blow Foles away in camp, they have a pretty good idea Foles would win the battle?

“I feel right back at home”

On the “Hoge and Jahns” podcast, Bears GM Ryan Pace reiterated the obvious about the attraction to Foles. It wasn’t that other quarterbacks weren’t more talented, it came down to a comfort level.

“Obviously, there is a reason why we went after him,” Pace said. “There is a reason why we made that trade. There is a lot of background with him. His experience, the success that he’s had, his fit to our team and our offense and we’re excited about that addition and we’re excited about this competition.”

Foles and Trubisky had their third day of walkthroughs with the rookies on the field at Halas Hall. The veterans should get started this weekend, once they’ve received negative COVID-19 tests.

Finally able to work with his new coaches and on his new team, Foles’ transition is eased with the coaches he knows so well.

“The beautiful thing is there’s a lot of similarities in this offense from Philly offense, so I feel right back at home,” he said. “Whether it’s the run game or the pass game, there are similarities to where, you know, it’s been a year since I was sort of in that offense but it is nice to have that verbiage and have this feel and understand why we’re doing it, this is how we do it, this is the history. Because the history of the Philly offense came from K.C. We evolved it in Philly but coach Nagy brought the K.C. offense here and it’s become the Bears’ offense.”

From 2016-18, Foles started nine regular-season games — one for the Chiefs in 2016 and then eight for the Eagles the next two seasons. He wasn’t setting the world on fire, but he wasn’t creating the types of negative plays that hinder an offense or waste a great defense.

Whatever fingerprints Lazor and DeFilippo will have on the offense should be familiar for Foles, but he’ll also be able to learn something new.

“It’s exciting because those were all at different walks of my NFL journey. Lazor was early on in 2013,” Foles said. “Flip was 2017-2019, so we were on a Super Bowl team and we had a crazy year last year in Jacksonville. And then Nagy was quality control in 2012 and then was my OC in 2016. It’s really fun to be with them because now I’m on my ninth year, every experience you have in life, you gain knowledge and wisdom.

“And you always trying to seek more — you don’t ever know everything. So I’m trying to learn. You know, I learned a new thing with protection yesterday that I hadn’t heard and I don’t think anyone in the QB room had heard. It was Bill’s philosophy, and I’m like, ‘Man, that’s actually pretty good.’ It didn’t make sense to me at first, but when you explained it, I get why you do it.”

Foles even sounded like Nagy, echoing a common refrain from the Bears’ head coach, who likes to focus on how to, “Figure out the ‘why’”.

“I’m a big ‘why’ guy,” Foles said. “You’ve got to tell me why. If you don’t tell me why I’m going to talk and we’re going to have a conversation until we figure out why. And so those things add up to where all of a sudden you’re honed into football, you’re honed into playing and you just forget about all the other baloney.”

Every team around the league is in a race to be the most-ready for Week 1. The Bears’ quarterback competition sets them behind the rest. So they’ll take any edge they can get, such as trading for a quarterback who won’t have a huge learning curve. That matters when Foles didn’t even get to be inside Halas Hall until July 29, only 46 days before the opener.

“It helps, too, to build up speed, they’ve seen me in games, they know what I’m like in games, and that helps a lot,” he said. “It’s enjoyable. It’s really cool now to be in this situation where we’re all in the same place for the Chicago Bears and doing everything we can to help this team.”

What will the coaching staff need to see from Foles to know he’s ready to go? What does he have to do to earn the starting job? He won’t take the bait of getting into the competition element per se.

“I think the big thing is just don’t focus on winning,” he said. “I’d say the big thing is focus on getting to be myself out there on the field and when a play is called, playing to the best of my ability.”

Any quarterback is going to say he likes the offense, but what is supposed to set Foles apart is how well he understands it, and then how well he can execute it the way Nagy wants.

“I love this offense,” he said. “I love the verbiage. I’ve been in this offense. I know what I can do in this offense. But all that stuff gives me is wisdom — wisdom to go out there and help my teammates, to help Mitch, to help Tyler. I’m not keeping secrets from Mitch. I want to help Mitch. So if there is a play that I’ve ran a lot and I know a lot, I’m going to give him that information, just like I know he will with me because we’re working to help each other.”

No stranger to forming new relationships

As much as being able to step right in with Nagy, Lazor and DeFilippo is a benefit to Foles, there wasn’t a way for him to do anything more than Zoom with his receivers or offensive linemen.

Foles was living in Florida before shifting to his offseason home in California. He then had to move to Chicago, all when balancing a growing family. His wife gave birth to a baby boy seven weeks ago.

“I thought we optimized our Zoom meetings to the best of our abilities and then throwing-wise, I was very fortunate to find some young guys who wanted to work,” Foles said. “I live in California in the offseason. And got a lot of good work in. Obviously, it’s not with your teammates but it’s still good work.”

He’s nearly four months behind where he should be in building relationships with his teammates, but the next few weeks of doing socially distanced introductions are something that Foles should handle just fine. This is his sixth season starting with a brand-new team.

“This is going on Year 9 and it’s been a crazy career and it just keeps getting crazier,” he said. “I’m just going out there and if I’m working (with) the second team, third team, first team, let’s just play ball, man.”

Starting pitcher vs. coming out of the bullpen

The sense around the league is one of the pros of having someone like Foles on your team — aside from him being hailed as a great teammate — is his ability to step in in the middle of a game or a season without a drop-off.

He did it famously in the 2017 season. He did it at a prolific level in 2013. He beat the Bears in the 2018 playoffs as part of his reliever role.

That’s not the reason to start Trubisky, but it provides some confidence that the Bears would have one of the league’s best backups ready to go. But if Foles starts from the get-go, he’s been fine there, too.

It’s worth noting that when analyzing Foles, the stats are rarely eye-opening.

“You can win with him, but everything has to be right and you have to play his type of offense,” a personnel director told The Athletic’s Mike Sando in his annual Quarterback Tiers story.

Foles’ best numbers in his career have come in December, but he’s been solid in September. He is actually 3-1 in his four Week 1 starts and had two good starts when in his first appearance for a team. In 2015, he outdueled Russell Wilson, completing 18-of-27 passes for 297 yards, one touchdown and no picks in a Rams win over the Seahawks. Last season, it was only a quarter, but he was 5-of-8 for 75 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown in his Jaguars debut. He broke his collarbone on that scoring pass.

The stat that should mean a lot to a Bears team that is going to rely on its defense — interception percentage — has been the lowest for Foles int he first month of the season.

For comparison’s sake, Trubisky’s best month is actually September with a 92.4 rating and 67.8 percent completion rate, but an interception percentage of 2.1.

For every advantage Trubisky has gained over four months of no organized football, they’re both in the building now, which means Foles’ relationship with the coaches and knowledge of the offense is now in play.

Sando’s Quarterback Tiers story showed Foles at the bottom of Tier 3 and Trubisky in Tier 4, so this isn’t an enviable quarterback situation. Defensive coaches probably aren’t shuddering over who they’re going to have to prepare for. That’s the reality of the situation, but it’s up to the Bears — and their two quarterbacks — to make the best of it so the offense can better complement a top-flight defense.

On Aug. 17 when the pads come on, everyone will get their first real look at who has the lead in the competition. Maybe we needed a Zoom with Foles after not hearing from him for so long to remember that it could be him taking the first snaps in Detroit.

“Let’s just go play ball,” Foles said. “Let’s just go out there and be the best we can be. And that’s it. I know y’all are probably, ‘That’s a little weird.’ At the end of the day, we’re in this situation and everyone has their ownmentality.

“Mymentalityis: simplify things, enjoy the game, have fun, play with some swagger, love your brothers, love everyone here and go out there and play ball and have fun.”

(Photo: James Lang / USA Today)