Trubisky back in Chicago as Bills backup, reflects on tenure
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Mitchell Trubisky‘s return to Halas Hall largely came without fanfare. The former Chicago Bears quarterback — now Buffalo Bills backup — entered joint practices between the teams last week from the makeshift locker room in the Walter Payton Center, where he had done plenty of work.
Trubisky went through quarterback drills and shared second-team reps with fellow Bills backup QB Mike White, throwing touchdown passes and a couple of incompletions. The memories returned, along with feelings of nostalgia. Before and after practice, Trubisky greeted former teammates and staff members from his time in Chicago. He also answered questions from local media.
The No. 2 pick in 2017 is entering his ninth NFL season, competing for the backup role behind reigning MVP Josh Allen. The posters around Bears training camp showcase the latest Bears first-round quarterback in Caleb Williams, who is under the same kind of pressure Trubisky faced going into his second season in 2018. Despite the stress, Trubisky says he wishes that time had lasted longer.
“It’s a privilege and I miss that, and it’s a lot of fun to be the franchise guy, especially in a city like this,” Trubisky said after practice. Returning to the place he was drafted, still playing in the league, is something he described as “exciting and scary at the same time.”
Trubisky’s goal remains to be a starting quarterback. Despite his tenure not working out as the Bears’ franchise quarterback, Trubisky’s return to Chicago for joint practices and a preseason game (8 p.m. ET, Sunday, Fox) brings back happy memories and is a reminder of what he still wants to accomplish in his career.
“That’s tough sometimes, I think, cause you always want to stay in the moment and take it day by day, but, I mean, the long-term goal is definitely to be a starter and a franchise guy somewhere again,” Trubisky told ESPN. “I think if you have that mindset and strive for that, but also take it one day at a time, everything else will kind of take care of itself in the meantime.”
There were positives in Chicago. In 2018, the Bears went 12-4, won the NFC North, and Trubisky threw 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Though the Bears made the playoffs again in 2020, the team had back-to-back 8-8 seasons in 2019 and 2020, and in a struggling offense, Trubisky’s QBR dropped from 71 in 2018 to an average of 45.8 in the next two seasons.
Trubisky said that because of all the turnover in Chicago — two head coaches fired since he left in 2020 and two more first-round quarterbacks drafted — there are only three players on the current Bears roster whom he played with (tight end Cole Kmet, cornerback Jaylon Johnson and kicker Cairo Santos).
Trubisky, who became a free agent after the Bears declined his fifth-year option, played his first stint with the Bills in 2021 as Allen’s backup. That year, Trubisky had a standout preseason performance in Chicago, leading the offense to four touchdown drives in its first four possessions.
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Trubisky, 30, then spent 2022 and 2023 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, earning the starting job out of camp in 2022 but eventually becoming the backup to Kenny Pickett. Trubisky’s time there ended in what he called a “good mutual breakup.” Last offseason, he returned to Buffalo, signing a two-year deal in a backup role.
Trubisky has enjoyed the camaraderie specific to the Bills, who often spend time together away from the facility, living near each other in Orchard Park, New York.
“I think it’s just the culture that they’ve built here,” Trubisky said. “The type of guys we bring into the team and the families.”
Trubisky and White, who signed with the team before the 2024 regular season and then re-signed in January, have been battling for the backup QB role. The team usually keeps only one backup on the active 53-man roster. The QB group consists of Allen, Trubisky, White and Shane Buechele, a former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who has been with the Bills since August 2023.
“If you walked in that [quarterback] room, you couldn’t tell if it was training camp, we’re in a battle, or if it was frickin’ Week 2 of last year,” White told ESPN. “It’s such an enjoyable room to go into.”
As training camp began, general manager Brandon Beane expressed a lot of support for Trubisky.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Mitch. We really do,” Beane said. “I know people will maybe mention Mike went [with the second-team offense]. Ultimately, we want as much competition as we can. We want to get as many people as many opportunities as we can, but at the same time, Mitch has been here two full seasons with us if you go back to 2021. If Josh went down in a game, we were very confident last year. If he went down now, we’d be very confident in Mitch.”
White and Trubisky are getting opportunities with the second-team offense. Trubisky started the first 2025 preseason game against the New York Giants, finishing 9-of-13 for 138 yards and 1 touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox.
The backup to Allen doesn’t play often, as the reigning MVP has not missed a game since his rookie season.
“No matter how many reps I get, I’m focused on making the reps I get the best as possible so I can continue and improve my game and continue to stay ready,” Trubisky said.
Trubisky said that he is focusing on his accuracy and ball placement. Allen and White noted Trubisky’s consistency.
“Mitch is, every day he’s the same exact guy,” Allen said. “He knows who he is. He works extremely hard. He’s doing everything he can right now to continue to improve. I love him and I love all the quarterbacks in our room.”
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Bills center Connor McGovern met Trubisky in 2014 during a campus visit at UNC before McGovern chose Penn State. McGovern said that Trubisky sees the game differently than Allen, even receiving snaps in a unique way, and that Trubisky gives him a bit more control. Trubisky noted his increased comfort with coordinator Joe Brady’s offense and the line this season.
“[Trubisky was here in 2021, so] he knows a lot of the why for some of the stuff that was consistent from before, that a guy like Mike White and Shane [Buechele] don’t,” Brady said.
“Mitch’s athleticism is incredible in there. He has great command. He’s played a lot a meaningful football. … I love Mitch. I love his approach [of] how he does everything … and there’s a reason we obviously have him here.”
Securing the backup role is the next step for Trubisky in his goal of being a starter again. Even in returning to Chicago, Trubisky will remember the “nostalgic good times,” but the focus remains on football.
“[It’s] fun to go get some food, hang out with the guys, take care of business, see some old friends, and just interact with the fans a little bit because, like I said, they’ve been really nice to my family and I since I left,” Trubisky said.
“And I think the dream is one day to just go back and take my son to a game there and be like, ‘Hey, this is the first place that your dad played,’ along with all the other stadiums that we’ve been to. So, I think having memories like that would be special.”
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Steelers escape Ravens’ late push, win AFC North title
- Jamison Hensley
- Brooke Pryor
Jan 5, 2026, 06:35 AM
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PITTSBURGH — In a rock fight that morphed into a fourth-quarter track meet with huge ramifications for the losing team, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens 26-24 and clinched the AFC North by the thinnest of margins as Ravens kicker Tyler Loop missed a game-winning 44-yard field goal attempt.
Kicker Chris Boswell, automatic for so much of the 2025 season, missed his first extra point attempt in more than two seasons with 55 seconds left, leaving the Steelers up by just two points. Quarterback Lamar Jackson converted his second fourth down of the day to Isaiah Likely with 14 seconds left, setting up for what could’ve been a winning field goal by Loop.
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The Steelers retook the lead 20-17 with 3:49 left, but it came at a significant cost as Rodgers had to burn the final timeout when the in-helmet communication appeared to go out. Rodgers switched helmets before the third-down call, but a few seconds after lining up, he called the timeout and demonstratively gestured at his helmet. The Steelers scored on a rushing touchdown by running back Kenneth Gainwell a play later.
Though Pittsburgh effectively shut down the Ravens’ rushing attack after a 79-yard first quarter by Derrick Henry, Jackson exploited the Steelers’ secondary with speedy wide receiver Zay Flowers. Flowers slipped behind the Steelers’ secondary twice in the fourth quarter for monster touchdowns of 50 and 64 yards.
The Steelers retook the lead with a 26-yard touchdown from Aaron Rodgers to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, but Boswell missed his first extra point attempt since Week 15 of the 2023 season against the Indianapolis Colts.
Baltimore Ravens (8-9)
The Ravens face an offseason of uncertainty after they lost when Loop’s 44-yard field goal went wide right. Loop, who had made 90% of his field goals during his rookie season, missed the kick as time expired.
The Ravens face questions with the futures of coach John Harbaugh and Jackson. Harbaugh’s job security has come under scrutiny after the Ravens went from being a preseason Super Bowl favorite to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021. This marked the third time in Harbaugh’s 18 seasons that the Ravens finished with a losing record.
Baltimore also has to address the contract of Jackson, whose salary cap number jumps to $74.5 million this offseason.
Most surprising performance: Flowers scored his first go-ahead touchdown since Week 14 of the 2023 season when he caught a 50-yard pass from Jackson. This marked the fourth straight week that the Pro Bowl wide receiver has scored. He had gone 12 straight weeks without a touchdown before this streak.
Stat to know: Jackson’s time to throw his 50-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter was 5.37 seconds. That was his longest time to throw on any touchdown pass he has thrown during the 2025 season, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Jackson bought time by eluding Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith before throwing deep to Flowers, which gave Baltimore a 17-13 lead with 8:42 left in the game.
Trend to watch: Henry’s domination early in games. Henry has run for more than 100 yards in the first half for the past two games — 106 yards in Green Bay and 112 in Pittsburgh — which is quite a feat. Over the past 20 seasons, this has only happened once before and it was Henry who accomplished it. In 2018, he totaled over 100 yards rushing in the first halves of his Weeks 14 and 15 games when he was with the Tennessee Titans.
Best quote from the locker room: Jackson reacted to the loss, by saying: “We did all that to come up short. [It’s] devastating. [I am] furious. [I am feeling] all types of [emotions]. I don’t know, I’m everywhere with it right now.” — Jamison Hensley
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Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
What to make of the QB performance: Coming off a dreadful outing in the loss to the Browns, Aaron Rodgers said during the week that he didn’t have a lot of “back-to-back stinkers.” The regular-season finale wasn’t quite a stinker, but he didn’t bounce back with a signature cold-weather Rodgers performance. Rodgers, who completed 31-of-47 for 294 yards, had highs including a 20-yard scramble to convert a third-and-long and a 30-yard fourth-quarter dart to Pat Freiermuth, but he also had lows such as missing a wide-open Jonnu Smith in the first half and taking a third-down sack in the fourth quarter that led to the Ravens’ ensuing touchdown drive.
In his Wednesday news conference prior to the game, the 42-year-old left the door open to play again next season, but it remains unclear whether that would be in Pittsburgh or how this final performance might factor into that decision.
Trend to watch: Gainwell, voted the team MVP days before Sunday’s regular-season finale, led the Steelers in targets (9) and receptions (8) in the game. The former Philadelphia Eagles‘ backup carved out a role as a dual-threat pass catcher and runner after signing a one-year, $1.79 million contract with the Steelers in free agency. Rodgers said earlier this season that he told Gainwell his goal was to get him paid this offseason, and it appears the quarterback will accomplish that — whether in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.
Gainwell said Friday that he’s open to staying with the Steelers. “This experience has been amazing to me,” he said. “It’s definitely something that I would love to experience again, but obviously the free agency thing, it’s different, but this is actually something that I would love to come back to and be a part of.”
Turning point: T.J. Watt‘s third-quarter interception. In his first game back from a partially collapsed lung suffered Dec. 10, Watt intercepted Jackson on third down of the Ravens’ first second-half possession. Despite starting their drive on Baltimore’s 26-yard line, the Steelers’ offense stalled out at the 7-yard line and had to settle for a field goal. It was enough to give the Steelers a three-point lead at the time, but it left the door open for the Ravens.
Best quote from the locker room: Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward on how close it was between winning and losing at the end: “I’m not going to ask questions. The good Lord made a good decision tonight. I’m thankful and we keep moving on.” — Brooke Pryor
Next game: vs. Houston Texans, Monday, Jan. 12 at 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC)
