A timeline of Bears quarterback futility — this time for sure?

As if the debate over Caleb Williams' training camp/preseason wasn't enough, Mitch Trubisky's visit to Halas Hall last week with the Bills was another reminder of the Bears' never-ending quest for a quality quarterback. (A side note: Great to see Mitch in good spirits with a good perspective on his time with the Bears — a far cry from Cade McNown and Rex Grossman, who are notably (and purposely) reclusive and invisible in their post-Bears career.)

The Bears have upgraded twice since the end of the Trubisky era — with Justin Fields and Williams (who, in fairness, has played just one season with the Bears) — yet Trubisky is still the best passing quarterback the Bears have had since the end of the Jay Cutler era.

• Trubisky is the only quarterback since Rex Grossman (2005, 2006) to start a playoff game in multiple seasons (2018, 2020 — though 2020 barely registers as a playoff season at 8-8 with an extra qualifier for the COVID-19 season.)

  
  

• He's the only Bears quarterback to make the Pro Bowl (as an alternate in 2018) since Jim McMahon in 1985.

• And his 95.4 passer rating in 2018 is the best since McMahon in 1984 (97.8). Even relative to the league, Trubisky's ranking of 15th in passer rating in 2018 is the third highest for a Bears quarterback since Erik Kramer was fourth in 1995 (only Cutler ranking 12th in 2013 and 13th in 2011 are higher).

For the record, Williams' 4,030 total yards (3,541 passing/489 rushing) last season is a franchise record. But even with just six interceptions last season, his 87.8 passer rating ranked just 24th in the NFL.

And of course, the disappointing Trubisky era came up again this week with Williams facing the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes in the preseason finale on Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium. It's no use re-litigating that error in judgment in detail, but still worth pointing out that while general manager Ryan Pace made a mistake others in his position might have made (Trubisky was the highest ranked quarterback in that draft class by draft analysts), his incriminating mistake was being so resolute about Trubisky that he traded four draft picks to move up one spot to get him — unwilling to "settle" for Deshaun Watson or Mahomes if someone jumped ahead of him (as he feared) to take Trubisky.

So here we are, four weeks into training camp and the Bears quarterback situation, while promising with Williams and coach Ben Johnson, is an x-factor. It's a better situation than the Bears have been in at quarterback in the past. But let's not forget all the optimism of the Cutler era and the coordinators/coaches who were expected to take him to another level.

A look back at previous seasons at this juncture tells the tale:

2024

Last August, I gave Caleb Williams due credit for not being the prima donna QB with the helicopter dad that he was purported to be. It's so typical of the Bears' quarterback plight over the years that by the end of the year, it seemed like Williams actually was too deferential and needed to be more of the diva we feared. Hopefully he finds a happy medium this season.

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2023

Justin Fields looked like he needed more work after a shaky performance against the Colts in joint practices, but he was held out of the second preseason game against the Colts.

Contrast that to this year when Ben Johnson adjusted his preseason plan and played Williams in the second preseason game against the Bills, because it was clear he needed the work.

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2022

Typical of the low bar the Bears have set, Justin Fields' 19-yard pass to Cole Kmet — he could have run or thrown to Darnell Mooney — on a 10-play, 52-yard drive that netted a field goal in a preseason victory over the Seahawks was a sign of progress that literally made headlines. My former Sun-Times colleague Pat Finley did his best to keep it in perspective. But it still tells the tale.

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2021

Tell me if you've heard this one before, Bears fans were clamoring for rookie Justin Fields to get a shot at the starting job after he threw for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown in a preseason game against the Dolphins, but coach Matt Nagy was resolute that veteran Andy Dalton was his starter.

A five-yard gain on a checkdown to Khalil Herbert was quarterback coach John DeFilippo's favorite play against the Dolphins. More small steps that never led to a giant leap.

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2020

This was all too typical of Bears' quarterback situations: The Bears signed veteran Nick Foles to push Mitch Trubisky, even staging a training camp "competition" for the starting job.

Trubisky "won" the battle, even though he was not any better than Foles in camp and the preseason, and maybe worse.

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2019

After Mitch Trubisky's encouraging first season in his offense, Matt Nagy limited Trubisky to three snaps — all handoffs — in the preseason, prioritizing health heading into the regular season.

With his preseason done, Mitch Trubisky already had his eyes on the season opener against the Packers in two weeks. He was 26 of 45 for 228 yards, no touchdowns and one interception for a 62.1 passer rating in a 10-3 loss.

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2018

Mitch Trubisky threw a touchdown pass to tight end Trey Burton — but only after he fumbled and was tackled in the end zone for a safety against the Broncos in the preseason.

But in the first year of Matt Nagy's offense, the highlights were considered harbingers more than the errors were considered red flags.

Trubisky was expected to play in the "dress rehearsal" against the Chiefs, but Matt Nagy changed course and sat his starters.

Chase Daniel threw two touchdowns passes as the Bears took a 24-10 first half lead en route to a 27-20 victory. But Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes' impressive stint (18 of 24, 196 yards, 1 TD, 112.5 rating) was a better sign of things to come.

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2017

The Mike Glennon plan was ill-fated from the start. Glennon, who had thrown a pick-6 on his second pass of the preseason, threw another pick against the Cardinals and had a 0.0 passer rating. He lasted four starts.

The Bears planned for rookie Mitch Trubisky to serve an apprenticeship behind Mike Glennon in 2017 — just as the Chiefs were doing with Patrick Mahomes/Alex Smith. The flaw in that arrangement: You almost always need a successful quarterback in a proven offense for that plan to work.

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2016

Working with his sixth offensive coordinator in eight seasons (Dowell Loggains), Jay Cutler was better in his second preseason game than his first. Cutler would be limited to five starts because of injuries. As was the case in 2013 with Josh McCown, his successor was better. Brian Hoyer had a 101.4 passer rating (6 TDs, 0 INTs) in four starts before he himself was injured against the Packers.

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2015

Working with his third head coach (John Fox), third GM (Ryan Pace) and fifth offensive coordinator (Adam Gase) in seven seasons, Jay Cutler and the Bears were starting all over again in 2015.

There was always something with Jay Cutler — a bad defense, coaching changes, new offense, bad offensive line, etc. This time it was the receiving corps, impacted by the strange season-ending injury to first-round draft pick Kevin White.

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2014

In his second year in Marc Trestman's offense, Jay Cutler had a 123.3 passer rating in the Bears' first two preseason games in 2014, but not even the players were falling for that. 'You're asking me about "Sorcerer's Stone" when I'm reading "Prisoner of Azkaban," tight end Martellus Bennett said. "You can't really tell because we haven't played a whole game. All women look good for an hour, but can she look good all night? That's how we are right now."

Later that week, a dreadful 34-6 loss to the Seahawks in the preseason "dress rehearsal" was a red flag. Jay Cutler threw a league-high 18 interceptions, the Bears fell to 23rd in scoring (19.9 ppg) and the season ended in disaster, with Trestman and GM Phil Emery fired.

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2013

Pairing Jay Cutler with quarterback-whisperer Marc Trestman created a lot of excitement and anticipation, but didn't quell the skepticism. Cutler bristled at the critique that he was focusing too much on wide receiver Brandon Marshall and he was right that it was no big deal. Marshall had 1,421 receiving yards that season, but Alshon Jeffery had 1,295 and tight end Martellus Bennett had 759 as the Bears finished second in points and fifth in passing yards in 2013.

Some things never change. Jay Cutler's goal for the "dress rehearsal" against the Raiders? "Get in and out of the huddle, limit our penalties and hopefully move the ball," he said. Cutler was 12 of 21 for 142 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 93.8 passer rating as the Bears took a 27-0 lead in the first half before giving way to Josh McCown.

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