On three separate occasions last week, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace said, “Everything is on the table” for the franchise’s next direction at quarterback.
For the third time in 12 years, the Bears are in position to make an aggressive, franchise-altering move. They don’t necessarily have the resources to do so easily, but they have the motivation — or, the desperation.
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In 2009, they traded for Jay Cutler. Eight years later, they traded up in the NFL Draft to select Mitch Trubisky.
Those two quarterbacks combined for three playoff appearances and one playoff win in 12 seasons.
Lets take Pace at his word. Everything is on the table.
From the unlikely trade targets to the unlikely draft targets to the more likely free-agent options, the Bears are once again beginning a new NFL year in search of a quarterback. Here’s the 22 who could fit.
The trade market
Landing Watson would require so many things to take place, including a giant offer from the Bears. Watson doesn’t seem to be budging from his request to be traded out of Houston, but neither are the Texans. A possible deadline would be the draft, when the Texans could get the most for Watson.
There lies the Bears’ problem — they don’t have much to offer with the 20th overall pick. And would Watson actually want to come to Chicago? Unlike the next quarterback on this list, we have no idea, but there’s reason to believe he’d have other teams higher on his list than the Bears.
This is the home run swing of all home run swings. It’s Javy Baez up in the ninth inning of a tie game. The Bears have to figure out what they can offer the Texans to be in contention, hope a Watson trade is actually possible, and that he’d be open to being the best quarterback in Bears history.
Watson’s 2020 season would rank first in Bears history in passing yards, touchdown passes, and passer rating.
Unlike Watson, we know that Wilson is not only open to joining the Bears, he’s more willing to come to Chicago than at least 26 other teams.
The Seahawks can’t possibly trade Wilson, right? If they do, they’d seemingly want a lot more than the 20th overall pick — and if we’re going to assume a franchise quarterback would help the Bears in the standings, those first-round picks it would cost to get him might not be as valuable after 2021.
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But, like with Watson, the Bears have to put their best offer forward. They can’t afford to lose out on either quarterback because they wouldn’t throw in one more pick or a player. We’re talking about franchise-altering QBs.
Yes, Wilson is 32, but he’s never missed a game in nine NFL seasons — despite all those sacks. Plus, there’s a quarterback in Tampa that seems to be playing pretty well still into his 40s. The way the rules are set up to protect the position, quarterbacks can play for a while.
This could also drag out until draft time, when Seattle could collect its best compensation for Wilson. The Bears know their competitors here — the Raiders and Saints. Neither has a top-10 pick, so that helps. It still seems like an incredible long shot, but considering what has happened at the position in this town, simply being on Wilson’s list is a win.
Wilson’s 2020 season would rank first in Bears history in passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating.
Based on what GM Mike Mayock said last week, it certainly doesn’t seem like Carr will be available … unless that’s what Mayock wants teams to think as he makes a move for a rookie, or Wilson or Watson!
If you were wondering Mayock’s reaction to Russell Wilson’s list and other rumors, he said “I can’t talk about other players.”
Mayock did reiterate that he and Jon Gruden “pound the table for Derek Carr.”#Raiders— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) March 3, 2021
Carr isn’t a transcendent quarterback like Wilson or Watson, but he’s a lot better than what the Bears have had, and he’s good friends with Khalil Mack, for whatever that’s worth.
The compensation wouldn’t be nearly as steep, and if Carr were to be available, the Raiders might lose out on some leverage based on who else they would have in the building at quarterback.
Carr’s 2020 season would rank first in Bears history in passing yards and passer rating.
Remember how Bears coach Matt Nagy said, “There’s so many things involved, some things that are out there and some things that aren’t out.” This could qualify as a “thing that’s not out there.”
What direction will the Falcons go with a new GM and head coach? Would they consider taking the quarterback of the future at No. 4 and then put Ryan (and his $40.9 million cap hit in 2021) on the market?
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Ryan, the 2016 MVP, will be 36 next season. He’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards in each of the past 10 seasons and has missed one game since 2009.
It doesn’t seem like the Falcons would move on from Ryan just like that, especially when he’s still playing at a high level. Unlike Wilson and Watson, he might not merit a “name your price” situation considering his age and contract. This somehow seems less likely than Watson and Wilson, simply because it’s not as if Ryan is trying to force his way out of town.
Ryan’s 2020 season would rank first in Bears history in passing yards.
Remember those brief moments last March when we thought the Bears would be signing Bridgewater? Instead, he had an average season in Carolina and showed he’s not the long-term answer for the Panthers, who appear to be in play for one of the top QBs in the trade market or the draft.
It’s been a great comeback story for Bridgewater, but his ceiling is likely as a bridge quarterback somewhere. Could that be Chicago? If the Panthers made a play for a new starter, Bridgewater probably wouldn’t cost much in a trade.
Bridgewater’s 2020 season would rank third in Bears history in passing yards.
What if the 49ers decide to take a plunge at quarterback, could they ship Garoppolo back home? He’s landed on injured reserve in two of the past three seasons. His cap hit is $26.4 million. He’s started more than six games only one time — granted, he threw twice as many touchdowns as interceptions and led the 49ers to the Super Bowl that season.
It’d be a nice hometown story, but not the kind of move that has fans thinking Super Bowl. Who knows, maybe Phil Emery should’ve drafted Garoppolo in 2014.
Garoppolo’s 2019 season would have ranked first in Bears history in passing yards and passer rating (minimum 6 starts).
This seems like a reasonable, albeit not-too-exciting outcome. The Jets use the No. 2 pick on the quarterback and trade the third overall pick from 2018, with the Bears hoping to reclaim what the Jets — and several other teams — saw from Darnold coming out of USC.
The Jets have been a mess during Darnold’s time, so any team is going to have to work to separate his play from that of the offense. There have been moments in his three seasons, but things seemed to really fall off this past season. Injuries have been an issue, too, but Darnold is also only 23.
Darnold’s 2020 doesn’t look much better than what the Bears had at quarterback.
It would’ve been unheard of at the time, but imagine if Pace found a way to trade into the top two from the No. 7 pick in 2015, nearly four months into being a GM, and drafted Mariota.
The Bears were still on the hook for a lot of Cutler’s contract, but they liked Mariota. Six years later, could they find their way back to Mariota as a starter?
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Mariota could be a trade chip, and he is also a candidate to get cut and then signed as a free agent if there are no takers. Mariota played pretty well in Week 14 filling in for Carr. He’s got all the athletic tools and is only 27. Nagy got a front-row seat watching Mariota and the Titans engineer a comeback playoff win against the Chiefs three years ago.
Mariota has dealt with injuries. The Titans moved on from him and no one gave him a chance to start last season. He does have the same agents as Trubisky, part of the reason he was never a serious option for the Bears last offseason, but what about as a replacement for Trubisky now?
The last time Mariota started more than six games was 2018. Here’s how he stacked up that season (13 starts).
What will the Jags do with Minshew Mania after they turn to Trevor Lawrence? In 20 games, he has 37 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. He has sparked the Jaguars, but he also went 1-7 this past season as a starter.
The Bears will have some intimate knowledge of Minshew from quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo … and Minshew’s former teammate, Nick Foles. Hey, the Bears didn’t get Carson Wentz, so why not get another guy who shared a quarterback room with Foles?
Acquiring Minshew wouldn’t signal that this is the surefire Week 1 starter and future of the franchise, but it’s better than what the Bears have been doing at the position — it’s investing in a young quarterback.
Free agency
The Bears didn’t seem interested in Newton last offseason. Would they go for him this time after he threw eight touchdowns and 10 picks as the Patriots’ starter? Well, when put like that, it seems doubtful.
However, it’s not a great crop of free agents. Newton brings the power-running dynamic and a rocket arm. He’s six years removed from his MVP award and will be 32, but should be as healthy as he’s been in recent summers.
Is it just me, or are Bears fans weirdly (or not) excited about the possibility of Fitzpatrick being the guy? He’s nothing if not entertaining and would be joining his ninth NFL team. He threw 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions last season.
Fitzpatrick would be the prototypical “bridge” quarterback, and would probably sell more jerseys than Foles, even if he might not be that big of an upgrade from the Bears’ current “bridge” quarterback.
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The 38-year-old quarterback has only once thrown more picks than touchdowns in a season since 2010, and he did go to Harvard for those who weren’t aware. Games can be a bit of a roller coaster, but Fitzpatrick has proven he can step into any locker room and be a perfectly capable starting quarterback.
Fitzpatrick’s passer rating in 2020 would rank first in Bears history (minimum six starts).
Similar to Newton, one has to wonder what would make the Bears interested in Winston this offseason when they chose not to sign him last year when it only cost the Saints $1.1 million.
Winston has the arm and the experience as a starter — 70 starts from 2015-19 in Tampa — but the interceptions have to be a real concern for any team interested in his services, especially the Bears. Winston 30 picks in 2019 led the NFL.
The Bears are still built with their defense. What appeared to frustrate Nagy most in 2019-20 was Trubisky’s decision-making. No coach wants turnovers, but the Bears’ offense hasn’t been good enough to make up for them over the years, from Cutler to Trubisky.
Winston is a former No. 1 overall pick. He’s only 27. He shouldn’t be expensive. But those interceptions linger. It was possibly Foles’ best trait, protecting the football, one that wasn’t apparent last season.
Then again, Winston did something in 2019 no Bears quarterback has ever done — throwing 30 touchdown passes.
Winston’s 2019 season would rank first in Bears history in passing yards, passing touchdowns and second in interceptions.
If it wasn’t going to be Foles, Dalton sure seemed like an easy option for the Bears last offseason considering his time playing for offensive coordinator Bill Lazor in Cincinnati.
Would whatever led the Bears to choose Foles over Dalton still be a factor this time around? How did his play in Dallas last season when he replaced Dak Prescott impact his market this offseason?
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Dalton is 33 and was relegated to a No. 2 role last season after his worst season in Cincinnati in 2019. The connection with Lazor could still make a difference. He could keep the offense afloat and he has won a lot of games. Like with a bunch of these free agents, the Bears have to figure out if each player is an upgrade compared to Foles as someone who can take the reins until a rookie is ready. That might also mean another competition between two average quarterbacks.
Alex Smith
“I’ve told you what I feel about him,” Nagy said about Smith last October, “how special of a person and how much of a warrior he is.”
Nagy has talked about Smith a lot since becoming head coach. Smith is Nagy’s ultimate quarterback reference. If Trubisky operated the offense the way Smith did, maybe things would’ve gone differently the past few seasons. Smith seems to be the omnipresent quarterback that Nagy compares everyone to — or the one we suggest he compare everyone to.
Smith was the Comeback Player of the Year in 2020, an award he would’ve won for simply taking a snap after suffering a broken tibia and fibula in 2018. He underwent 17 surgeries. But he went 5-1 as a starter last season, despite throwing eight interceptions and only six touchdowns.
It’d be stunning if Nagy isn’t at least somewhat interested in bringing Smith to Chicago. Who better to run the Kansas City offense … but can Smith, who turns 37 in May and is a different player physically, still do so at a high level? And would he be better than Foles, if we’re going the veteran quarterback route?
Brissett was good enough for the Patriots to draft him in the third round, and then for the Colts to trade for him. Surely he’s good enough for the Bears, right?
Playing behind Philip Rivers last season, Brissett attempted only eight passes. His showing in ’19 wasn’t at a level that left GM Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich comfortable giving him the keys in ’20, as they went for Rivers instead, and next up for the Colts will be Carson Wentz.
Brissett has done a good job avoiding turnovers in his two seasons as a starter, but his accuracy hasn’t been great. He’s only 28.
In three seasons as a starter from 2015-17, Taylor threw 51 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. His 1 percent interception rate in 2017 led the NFL.
He’s started four games since.
Taylor has been in the league since 2011. His starting opportunity ended quickly last year, when Justin Herbert took over for an injured Taylor and went on to win Rookie of the Year honors. He would be that veteran quarterback who would compete with Foles and then work with a rookie. Despite that three-year stretch in Buffalo, a team probably wouldn’t envision Taylor as becoming a long-term starter.
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He was with Baker Mayfield in Cleveland in 2018 and then Herbert with the Chargers last season, so being paired with a rookie wouldn’t be new for Taylor.
Mitch Trubisky
As you went through that list of seven free-agent quarterbacks, did you wonder if Trubisky is better than any of them? All of them?
While Pace didn’t directly mention Trubisky in last week’s press conference, Nagy said as part of his response to a question, “I think you guys saw there, with Mitchell toward the end of the season we really were creating that identity with the offense and the direction.”
The offense was humming in that three-game win streak. Sure, the opposing defenses weren’t tough, but the Bears were putting up points at a rate not seen in decades. That was with Trubisky at quarterback.
Coaches, front-office personnel and players seem to widely respect Trubisky’s work ethic and leadership, and how he bounced back from being benched. One line of thinking could be, cynically, the Bears can’t get anyone better than Trubisky, so why not harness what he did in that stretch in December and see what it can mean in a full season?
Then there’s the Packers game. And the Saints playoff game. The offense stalled again when it mattered most. Trubisky couldn’t get the team to the next level.
Trubisky shouldn’t wait around for the Bears to see if they can find someone better. He’s earned the opportunity to be a free agent and find his best fit. Then again, if the Bears are interested in bringing him back, that could be his best chance to start.
If we’re to assume the Bears are going to take that big swing, this isn’t it. This is running it back, and Trubisky could find a better opportunity elsewhere.
Then again, both parties could realize that they were still better off together.
The NFL Draft
These two seem to be in the category of, “There’s absolutely no chance, right?” Both have been mentioned as possibilities for the No. 2 pick, and the Bears don’t have the resources to easily get from No. 20 to No. 2, if that’s what it would take.
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Coming from North Dakota State with one year as a starter under his belt and only one game in 2020 — a so-so one, too — puts Lance’s draft stock all over the board. A trade up for him seems more doable than Fields or Wilson, and it’s hard to ignore 28 passing touchdowns, zero interceptions and 1,100 rushing yards — oh, and 14 rushing scores, all while leading the Bison to a 16-0 record and a national title. Whichever direction the Bears go in the draft, we’ll learn how the Trubisky selection impacted them. Would they go once again for a one-year starter, this time from the FCS?
In our NFL beat writer mock draft, Jones was available at No. 20, so I grabbed him. Why not? He threw 41 touchdowns and four interceptions last season while completing a ridiculous 77.4 percent of his passes for a national championship team. I don’t care how wide open his receivers were or how good his offensive line was, Jones still had to make plays. Any team will have to try and isolate Jones’ own abilities, and he doesn’t possess the athleticism of the other top four QBs. He’s the prospect most likely to be available for the Bears at 20, or for a more manageable trade up, or even a trade down. There’s a drop-off at the position after Jones.
In-house
Nick Foles
Ah, yes, the option that still exists deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties. But the Bears shouldn’t want, nor do they need Foles on that wall. The excuses are valid for Foles’ poor play in 2020 — the offensive line was a mess, the running game was nonexistent, and he didn’t get to work with his new players and coaches on the field until late July, all while taking part in a quarterback competition.
Even in the areas where Foles is supposed to thrive — protecting the football and accuracy — he struggled last season.
But if the Bears don’t land Watson, Wilson or another obvious upgrade over Foles, there’s a scenario that exists in which he wins the job. A more palatable option is that the Bears go after one of the aforementioned top draft prospects and use Foles as their Day One starter until the rookie is ready to take over.
Even if Foles is simply a placeholder for a rookie who can excite the fan base, there is no option on this list who would better reflect the franchise’s history at quarterback than Foles getting the nod this September.
(Top photo of Nick Foles: Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
