Nick Foles Settles into Familiar Role of Being Prepared

Being named the backup isn't new to Nick Foles and he expects to be ready if needed after making steady progress in the offense throughout camp

Losing to Mitchell Trubisky in the Bears' quarterback battle only means Nick Foles moves into a supporting role, until or if his time comes.

You won't get him to talk about replacing the starter now.

"The big thing is we won't be thinking those thoughts," Foles said. "We'll only be thinking good thoughts and ultimately how can we help Mitch be successful on game days, so whatever that is—organizing our schedule, how we're gonna prepare for the week with film study, with our weight workouts and everything in between."

Foles has been in the backup spot for much of his pro career and his biggest success came in such a role, so he knows how to handle this even if being second string wasn't necessarily expected.

Foles felt he had a shot to win even without much practice time due to COVID-19 limitations on offseason work. When he sat down to talk to coach Matt Nagy to find out the result of the QB contest, he wasn't certain where he stood.

"I felt like it was pretty even throughout the whole thing," Foles said. "I felt like we gave each other a great battle and it was a healthy environment. Going into the conversation I honestly had no idea which direction it was going to go and I think that just says a lot about how we went out there and executed what the coaches wanted us to execute.

"Was everything perfect? No. But I felt like there was a lot of solid play based on what the coaches were wanting from the offense at the time and we are the only ones that know that. But at the same time I respect coach Nagy's decision."

Foles talked about an expedited process over the course of the last week and how difficult it was, but he wasn't going to lean on this as an excuse or crutch.

"I felt good out there," he said. "Was I myself, like where I want to be? No. I wasn't. But that's not based on footwork or anything else, that's based on the other circumstances that are out of your control where you are moving your family, you're with a new offense and you're with new players.

"You really get a great time in the spring to go through OTA practices and get those cobwebs out. That's not an excuse, that's just a reality of it all."

When Foles helped win the Super Bowl with the Eagles, he had the advantage of going through offseason work. It's been that way through his entire career.

The COVID-19 restrictions may have been the extra factor making it easier for Trubisky to win.

So Foles' career of peaks and valleys continues in the valley for now, right where it was when he was in Jacksonville and was benched after a broken collarbone.

"Every day I get more and more comfortable, understanding what the coaches want from the offense, having those conversations," Foles said. "The big thing is there are a lot of new offensive coaches, it’s not like it was the same offense staff (as the Bears had last year) so everyone is trying to get to know everyone. We're installing. We're going through this and that. That was the big thing.

"But when it goes on film I felt I showed progression with the offense, getting more comfortable with the concepts that maybe I haven't repped a lot of and starting to believe in why we execute them."

If the time comes, he'll try try to be ready even if he prefers not to talk about it now.

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