For the duration of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson’s careers, Chicago Bears fans will be pestered with questions and statements regarding the Bears’ decision to draft Mitchell Trubisky rather than either of those players.
It’s a storyline that’s already played out over the last couple of years on several occasions, and it doesn’t appear to be losing steam anytime soon. Especially as Mahomes and Watson’s stocks continue to rise.
Sports Illustrated asked the question Bears fans have been asking for a couple years now — what if Chicago had drafted Mahomes or Watson instead of Trubisky? That “what if” ranks among the NFL’s 10 biggest what-ifs of the last decade.
If the Bears had taken Mahomes, and still fired John Fox after his rookie year, and still hired Andy Reid protege Matt Nagy, would the team find the same level of success? If Mahomes was not given the chance to sit his rookie season behind Alex Smith and smooth out the rough patches in his game, would he emerge as the same firebrand? If Watson was a Bear, without the comically high catch radius of DeAndre Hopkins and a foundationally sound offense (Trivia Question: Who led the Bears in receiving yards in 2017? Kendall Wright with 614!), what would’ve become of him?
Obviously all three quarterbacks’ situations were different. Mahomes got to sit behind Alex Smith his rookie season and learned from one of the best in Andy Reid. Watson went to a Texans team with a good enough offense and one of the game’s best receivers in DeAndre Hopkins.
Meanwhile, Trubisky had to take guidance from John Fox and Dowell Loggains — and the ball was taken out of his hands for most of the season — and the lack of offensive weapons in the passing game was laughable.
Still, it’s clear that Ryan Pace made the wrong decision in choosing Trubisky over Mahomes and Watson. Although I guess we’ll never know how Mahomes or Watson would’ve panned out in a Bears uniform. Maybe they’re better off for it.
