TAKING STOCK: CHICAGO BEARS

BY ADAM GREENE

Our attention turns to the Chicago Bears, a team that didn’t so much back into the playoffs as do the old Nestea plunge. Counting their Wild Card defeat, the Bears lost eight of their last 11 games, which makes it obvious to everyone why general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy still have jobs, right? Right??

In the Taking Stock series, we’re looking at each playoff team, going from worst to first, and outlining exactly what they must do to avoid being one of the five or so franchises who miss the postseason the year after making it.

CHICAGO BEARS

2020-21 Record: 8-8, (NFC Wild Card)

Playoffs: Lost 21-9 to the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card Round

2021-22 NFC Championship Odds: +2500

Previously: Washington Football Team

THE QUARTERBACK

At present, the Bears have exactly one quarterback on the roster; Nick Foles. Foles still has two years left on his contract, but he’s not making much as NFL QB salaries go, even as a back up. He’ll cost Chicago $6.6 million this season before that number jumps to $10 million next year.

Former first round pick Mitchell Trubisky is a free agent and while you might read a few thinkpieces suggesting that the Bears keep him, I will not be joining that off-pitch choir. Yes, Trubisky was OK last season, finished with a 6-3 record, completed 67 percent of his passes for 16 TDs and eight picks, but it’s time for everyone to move on. I don’t think Trubisky is done in the NFL (nor should he be), but there’s no reason for Chicago to go down this same round with the dude.

While we joke about the Bears jettisoning Pace and Nagy, here’s a reason to think they made the right call in keeping them. When Russell Wilson let it be known that, while he wasn’t looking for a trade he would be willing to get traded to a select group of teams, plenty of us were shocked to see Chicago make the cut. The Bears had to feel like the tuba player in the marching band finding out the head cheerleader thought he was cute.

They are also very involved in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes that the Houston Texans want to pretend isn’t happening.

While I don’t think Wilson will be moved in a trade (especially to the Bears), there is a chance they could land Watson. According to ESPN, Chicago has the biggest offer on the table for Watson, so that could definitely happen. For Houston, it would allow them to trade their disgruntled star, who has no intention of suiting up for them again out of the AFC. For the Bears, it would allow them to make up for one of the greatest blunders in the history of their franchise, drafting Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

If they can’t make a Watson trade happen, the Bears still have plenty of options. This is a rich free agent class and there are guys on rosters right now, like Las Vegas Raiders back up Marcus Mariota, who should be starting.

I honestly like Mariota’s upside the best out of the group, but you could do a lot worse than signing Jameis Winston or Cam Newton to incentive-laden contracts. Winston might be the most talented (currently) of the bunch. If a coach and playcaller could cut his interceptions in half and get his usual 4,000 yards and 30 TD passes out of him, you would have Pro Bowl quarterback.

FREE AGENCY

Chicago is losing their top wide receiver, the underrated Allen Robinson, to free agency after a 102-catch, 1,250 yard, six touchdown season. Robinson rebuilt is flagging (and injury-riddled) career in Chi-Town, but was looking to be dealt last year. He could be enticed to come back, and certainly would if the team trades for Watson, but it would be smart to have alternatives. Outside of Robinson, the Bears have no free agents that they can’t let test the waters.

This offense needs some real punch, regardless of who they end up putting behind center. Guys like Marvin Jones, Sammy Watkins, Will Fuller and Josh Reynolds would all be inexpensive upgrades over their current roster corps. If they did want to spend some real money, Chris Godwin and JuJu Smith-Schuster would both be immediate gamebreakers. In fact, if I was building a WR group for the Bears, I’d go with Godwin for the cash and add Reynolds to join Darnell Mooney and Anthony Miller in the receivers’ room.

They also need to build up their offensive line and one of the most underrated things you can do is bring in free agent OL from winning teams. It can change your whole locker room in a hurry and shore up a line that much faster. That means targeting guys like Austin Blythe from the Los Angeles Rams, Jon Feliciano and Ty Nsekhe fom the Buffalo Bills and Nick Easton from the New Orleans Saints.

THE DRAFT

The Bears pick at No. 20 in the first round, unless they pull off the Watson deal, and that is unquestionably a best player available spot. While Chicago did make the playoffs, there’s really no position they couldn’t shore up. Considering the team’s history, don’t be shocked to see Missouri’s Nick Bolton or Notre Dame’s Jeremia Owusu-Koramoah get grabbed (and rightly so) at this spot. No reason not to add a star middle linebacker to a team that seems to thrive historically at that spot (Dick Butkis, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher). And, of course, there’s always the chance that Chicago will skirt free agency entirely and draft their next “QB of the future.”

NFC NORTH

The biggest obstacle for Chicago’s postseason success is that they’ve got a pretty great team in their way; the Green Bay Packers. Can they catch them this offseason? With Watson, sure. With any other QB, probably not. But they can certainly gain some ground with an improved passing game and returning the No. 11 ranked defense in the NFL.

Projected 2021-22 record: (With Watson) 12-4, (with the other mentioned FA QBs) 9-7, (with a rookie QB) 6-10.

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