[Thread] While I'm not sold that #Foles is all he's made out to be, I hate the narrative that he got benched for Minshew. Minshew re-took the reigns with a 4-9 record for a team lobbying for draft position & looking at changes across the FO as they entered a rebuild. #Bears

Foles earned the starting job week 1, got injured on an amazing throw and missed the next 9 games. In relief of Foles week 1 and those next 9 games, Minshew paced 4,062 yds, 23 TDs, 7 INTs, and a QB rating of 93 while going 4-4.

Despite Minshews performance, Foles got the starting gig back when healthy for game 10. But the team was very different from week 1.

Jalen Ramsey was gone after being traded to the Rams, leaving behind a pile of locker room drama and I am sure a lot of the players in Jacksonville felt that the front office had just given up on the season, shifting from a team trying to compete to a rebuilding team.

It was leaked soon after Foles return that Tom Coughlin had a pile of player grievances regarding excessive fines filed with the players union. Giving even more reason to believe that Foles had returned to a dysfunctional locker room situation.

The NFLPA sent a letter to every NFL player saying that the NFLPA won a grievance filed against the Jags that required Dante Fowler to attend rehab and Dr appointments in Jacksonville in the 2018 off-season,and fining him more than $700k when he didn't.

The letter also warned about potentially signing with the Jaguars, it said 25% of the grievances filed by NFL players in the past 2 yrs have been against the club, and that players "are at odds with Jags mgmt over their rights under the CBA, far more than players on other clubs."

So basically, when Foles stepped on the field week 1, the Jags were a defensively talented team who had a chance to be competitive. By the time Foles put on his Jags jersey for the 2nd time they were 4-5, basically out of the race.

Despite that, Foles played decently well in his first game back but idk how much of that was garbage time (IND: 70%, 297 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT, QB Rating 92), but was poor in his 2nd game (TEN: 67%, 278 yds, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, QB Rating 81.2)

His 3rd game back, he struggled early, and was benched after only 14 pass attempts (against TB, who had one of the best defensive DVOAs in 2019).

I think their record of 4-7 (looking at 4-8 when he was benched mid game) had more to do with his benching than anything. If he got hurt again, they couldn't trade him and were stuck with his cap hit while entering a rebuild.

Especially considering that Minshew showed something while Foles was out, and I think Jacksonville was right to see what he could do to close the season now that teams really had film on him.

To me, he was not benched for Minshew. There was simply no upside in playing Foles for the Jags. There was upside in seeing what they had in Minshew, and they would most likely get a higher draft pick in the process.