Time is a flat circle.
After decades of seeing elite defenses being undermined by subpar quarterback play, the Chicago Bears are, once again, back in the dark place. Quarterback purgatory. Just like the Jim Miller, Rex Grossman and Cade McNown days of yore.
Mitchell Trubisky just isn’t good enough. He showed flashes last year, but he seems to have regressed to the point of no return in his third season, and it was never more abundantly clear than in Sunday’s 35-24 loss to the Saints. His mechanics unraveled, he airmailed open receivers and he wasn’t able to see the field or execute Matt Nagy’s game plan at all.
He might have better games if Nagy sticks with him as the starter, but barring unprecedented improvement, 2019 will likely be the end of the Trubisky era.
If you’re a Bears fan, it’s impossible not to feel bad for the guy. By all accounts, he’s a wildly competitive dude, a hard worker and a leader in the locker room. He is the exact counterpoint to Jay Cutler, who was all talent and no character. Matter of fact, if the Bears could combine Trubisky’s personality and work ethic with Cutler’s natural quarterback skills, they’d have won the Super Bowl by now.
But they can’t, and now the only way to comb through the wreckage might be to bring in a veteran to replace him. Whether it’s now or in the offseason, Pace must admit he was wrong and try to salvage a competitive window.
Here are a few names they should consider pursuing, either via trade or free agency, as well as a few names to avoid.
Nick Foles
Foles was the biggest free agent signing of the offseason, and one quarter into his Jacksonville Jaguars career, he broke his clavicle while throwing a dime to Chris Conley for a touchdown.
Enter sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew II, who has not only steadied the ship with Foles out but provided an argument that he could be the team’s future at the position. He set NFL records for passer rating (110.6) and completion percentage (73.8) through a QB’s first three games, winning Offensive Rookie of the Month in the process.
While he has looked more like a rookie since, Minshew at least has to be giving Jacksonville pause as Foles works his way back from injury.
If the Jaguars decide to go with the younger and cheaper option, Foles immediately becomes expendable – $88 million over four years is way too much to pay for a backup. Foles is a former Super Bowl MVP, has ties to ]Nagy from his time in Philadelphia, and has found success in a similar-style offense under Doug Pederson.
The big issue here is that Chicago, which is already strapped for cash and will need to pay Eddie Jackson in the near future, would need to maneuver to fit the remainder of his contract under the cap.
But if Jacksonville is willing to give him up, Foles likely has the best chance among available quarterbacks of making the Bears immediately contenders again. And if the Jaguars elect to keep Foles, attempting to swing a trade for Minshew wouldn’t be the worst idea, either.
Marcus Mariota
Mariota is one of the few QBs in the NFL that you could argue has had a worse year than Trubisky. Also a former No. 2 overall pick, Mariota endured three offensive coordinator changes over five years in Tennessee and never delivered the way the franchise hoped he would. His time is clearly up with the Titans, evidenced by him getting benched and replaced with Ryan Tannehill.
Like Foles, Mariota has connections to the Bears. His coach at Oregon was current Chicago OC Mark Helfrich, under whom he put up 73 passing touchdowns and just eight interceptions over two seasons. He’s not the best pocket passer, but he’s athletic and he won a playoff game — against the Chiefs with Nagy on the staff.
A big knock on Mariota is that while he won’t often be the guy to lose the game, he will rarely be the guy to win it. But with the defense Chicago has, maybe that’s all they need. They shouldn’t expect him to suddenly turn into a superstar, but he might be able to execute Nagy and Helfrich’s RPO-heavy offense better than Trubisky.
Josh Rosen
I wrote a story explaining why the Bears should trade for Rosen a couple weeks ago, so for the sake of brevity, here’s a summary of his appeal: He’s young, he would be traded for dirt cheap (even cheaper now that he was benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick), no one knows what he is and he’s the closest thing the Bears could get to a first-round talent with the assets they have.
The only amendment I would make is that I said “nothing would be guaranteed” in regards to whether he’d be the starter. Considering how Trubisky has played, if Chicago makes the trade, there is no reason not to throw him in right away and see what he can do.
Nick Mullens
Mullens might fall into the “hey, anything has to be better at this point” category, but there is at least a bit of upside here. During his stint as a starter last season, Mullens put up some impressive numbers; his 8.3 yards per attempt was the third-highest mark in the league. He didn’t set the world on fire (he went 3-5 as a starter), but he looked like he belonged, and he’s only 24 years old.
San Francisco may not want to deal Mullens: he beat out C.J. Beathard for the backup job, and showed last year he could step in if Jimmy Garoppolo gets injured. (Garoppolo has also quietly not been great on an undefeated team this year, averaging 219 passing yards per game with a passer rating of 90.) But Mullens is cheap (he will be paid $575,000 this year), and would make sense as a midseason, evaluate-and-see trade candidate.
Not a good option: Cam Newton
On paper, it’s appealing. A former MVP and first overall pick, Newton is suddenly looking expendable in Carolina as young Kyle Allen has gone 4-0 as an injury replacement. The Bears still have a Super Bowl-caliber roster outside the quarterback position, and this would probably be talked about ad nauseam as a “win now” move.
Here’s the thing: If the Panthers decide they want to trade him, there will undoubtedly be a reason. Newton is the face of the franchise. There’s no way they will give him away unless there’s a major medical red flag, something that clearly shows he will never return to being the player he once was.
A healthy Newton undoubtedly gives Carolina the best chance to win. And a healthy Newton will not be available for a price that Chicago, who doesn’t own a first-round pick next year, can afford.
The current version comes with almost an identical set of issues to Trubisky: wonky mechanics and errant throws with a shell of the athleticism and mobility we once saw. According to Pro Football Focus, after the first two weeks of the season, there was only one QB with a higher rate of “uncatchable throws” than Trubisky. That QB was Newton.
Not a good option: Jameis Winston
Winston, like Mariota, is approaching the end of his rookie contract with a handful of underwhelming seasons under his belt. Also like Mariota, few are expecting him to end up with a second contract on his current team.
But the Bears don’t need a gambler like Winston, who seemingly ends half of his drives with backbreaking interceptions. If they’re going to bring in a veteran, they should target someone who will limit mistakes and run Nagy’s offense. And Winston is very decidedly not that.
Not an option: Colin Kaepernick
It’s not that he’s a bad quarterback, or that he would be a bad fit for the offense. It’s not exactly a bold take to suggest that the guy who nearly won a Super Bowl can still play in the NFL. In a perfect world, the Bears would call Kap up today and give him a contract tomorrow.
But this is not a perfect world. This is 2019. If Kaepernick were going to play again in the NFL, he probably would have signed with a team by now. It’s clear that no team is willing to invite the media circus he would bring with him into their locker room.
Chicago is not the first team in the post-Kaepernick era in desperate need of a quarterback. If it hasn’t happened yet for other teams in QB purgatory, it would be wise not to hope it will happen for the Bears.
Not an option: Tom Brady
It’s an entertaining thought. It’s also a pipe dream. He may be selling his house, and Adam Schefter may have entertained the idea of his exit at the end of this season. But if he’s going to play in 2020, why on earth would Brady choose the Bears over the team he’s already won six rings with?
Yes, crazier things have happened. If he becomes available, it’s a no-brainer, sell-everybody-besides-Khalil-Mack-to-make-it-happen type of move. Just be aware that this is the longest of long shots.
