Getty Mitchell Trubisky of the Buffalo Bills will face his former team this weekend.
Mitch Trubisky is making his return to the Windy City just five months after he signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills.
The former second overall pick for the Chicago Bears was bound to return to sooner or later, and he’s getting it out of the way early on, when Buffalo heads to Soldier Field on August 21 for a preseason game that ultimately doesn’t matter. But it kinda does.
Sure, it’s just the preseason, but considering the Bears currently have Trubisky’s long-term replacement on the roster in this year’s first-round pick Justin Fields, and his short-term replacement starting against the Bills in Andy Dalton, there’s more than a little pride on the line for Trubisky — and for those replacing him.
One of Trubisky’s new Bills teammates in particular is looking forward to the quarterback’s return to Chicago, and he explained why.
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Matt Breida: Excited for Trubisky to Return to Chicago
New Bills running back Matt Breida was asked about his team’s upcoming game against the Bears, and he had this to say about Trubisky’s return specifically:
“I’m excited for him to go back to Chicago and show them they made a mistake,” Breida said, per reporter Alexa Ross.
It’s doubtful Trubisky is going to play against the likes of Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks for all that long Saturday, and he’s a backup now for a reason, but Breida was just supporting his teammate while throwing a little shade at his upcoming opponent.
Trubisky certainly doesn’t deserve any ire from fans or media, but the Bears are surely happier with Justin Fields as the future of the franchise. No disrespect to Trubisky, but facts are facts. If even one of the 32 NFL teams thought of him as a starter, he’d be starting somewhere, or at least competing for a starting job. Instead, he’ll only play in instances like this, or in the event of an injury to Bills franchise QB, Josh Allen.
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Bears Speak Highly of Trubisky Before Preseason Clash
For what it’s worth, the Bears had good things to say about their former quarterback leading up to the matchup against him.
Bears coach Matt Nagy said this about Trubisky on August 19:
We understand that there’s the business side and then there’s the personal side. And the respect that we have for him as both, as a person and as a player, I think everybody here has that for him, all his teammates and coaches. We wish him nothing but the best. When the game’s going on we’re going to do everything we can to stop him. When the game’s over we’re going to be friends and have good stories. So that’s the part of life in the NFL for all of us, but it is a relationship business, and I think it’s important that everyone understands that on our end we care about him as a person. And we know that he’s going to compete his tail off all the time to do well at quarterback.
For his part, Trubisky noted it would be “weird going back” to Soldier Field to play against the team that drafted him, but he says he has managed to tune out the noise.
“People are always gonna have something to say about your journey and what everything goes to,” Trubisky said, via Sports Illustrated. “But not everybody could have done what I did, and I’m proud of where I’m at now, and I’m just ready to continue to embrace the process and embrace this team and be a part of a great organization. I believe I am where I am now for a reason and you just got to believe that and continue to move forward and get better.”
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