TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Mike Glennon isn’t looking over his shoulder at Mitchell Trubisky.
The Chicago quarterback said after Sunday’s 29-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he doesn’t feel he’s on the verge of losing his starting job to the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft.
“There’s been no communication of that, so there is no reason to worry,” said Glennon, who was coming off a solid, if not spectacular performance in the Bears’ 23-17 season-opening loss to defending NFC champion Atlanta.
Coach John Fox was supportive of the fifth-year pro, adding that he did not consider benching Glennon, who didn’t get Chicago into the end zone until throwing a 14-yard TD pass to Deonte Thompson with 1:43 remaining.
“We have to get better as a football team,” Fox said. “That wasn’t the Mike Glennon’s Bears, that was the Chicago Bears. It was our whole team. I haven’t looked at all the stats and all the exacts, but there’s a lot of people that had their hand in it. We’ll leave it at that.”
Glennon, who signed with the Bears as a free agent after spending the first four years of his career with the Bucs, flopped in his return to Raymond James Stadium with three first-half turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
Although the Bears wound up only being outgained by 1 yard by his former team, most of Chicago’s 310 yards came after Tampa Bay forced four first-half turnovers on the way to a 26-0 halftime lead.
Glennon finished 31 of 45 for 301 yards, one TD and two interceptions. He was sacked once, losing a fumble that the Bucs turned into a touchdown.
“Obviously, not what I envisioned or hoped,” the quarterback said. “Ultimately, it shows how precious taking care of the football is. Four turnovers in the first half is not going to win many football games. Three of those fall on me.”
Fox noted Glennon wasn’t helped by the absence of a productive running game. The Bears were limited to 20 yards rushing, averaging 1.3 yards per attempt after gaining 6.6 yards per carry during the previous week’s loss to the Falcons.
He said the quarterback played better as the game progressed, adding that the way Chicago moved the ball in a hurry-up mode “was a good experience for everybody.”
“It was good to fight all the way to the end,” Glennon said. “I didn’t think our guys gave up. Our offensive line did a really good job in that situation, when they knew we were passing on every play. … Our guys fought, and it was good to see.”
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