The most important position in professional sports is the quarterback position. They are responsible for getting the play call in on each play, making the correct adjustments at the line of scrimmage and handling the football on every offensive play. With the importance placed on the position, the Bears struggles to find a good one has been gruelingly obvious. In 2017, the Bears were in the market for a new quarterback and had their choice of Mitchell Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. With the importance of the position, it would make sense that the bears would do everything they could to make sure they got the right person. According to a tweet by Watson, the Bears failed to do that.
We all know the results of the Bears QB search in 2017. They traded up to the second overall pick to draft Trubisky in favor of both Watson and Mahomes. This is a story that has been talked to at exhausting length both in Chicago and nationally as Trubisky struggled mightily in 2019 and even his promising 2018 campaign wasn’t to the level of Mahomes or Watson, though I’d argue he wasn’t as far behind Watson as many would say in 2018.
If Watson’s statement is true, the Bears were negligent in their QB search. As a franchise that has rarely seen above average play from the most important position in sports, anything less than using every resource and turning over every stone during the scouting process is negligent. Watson had the most impressive college resume out of all three quarterbacks and while that does not always equate to NFL success, he was well worth the same attention they paid to Trubisky and Mahomes.
While the tweet by Watson came out on Friday, the roots of this story are deeply planted in 2017 and Watson’s tweet does contradict a response he gave during an interview in 2017. In his interview he lists the teams that he has met with during the draft process which includes a phone call with the Bears.
Many have pointed to this interview to call Watson a liar and he is, he either lied in 2017 or he lied in 2020. Most likely, he lied in 2017. This is pure speculation, but it would make sense that a young quarterback trying to improve his value and draft stock would say a team with a need at quarterback and a top three pick was interested in him.
There’s no way around it, this is a bad look for the Bears. While it’s easy to knock them for drafting Trubisky and trading up to do so, this is far from my biggest gripe with the team at this point. The draft involves so much luck and many national scouts had Trubisky ranked as their number one quarterback, it wasn’t just the Bears who had the wrong evaluation. The Bears were desperate for a quarterback and we’ve seen what happens when that’s the case so while I disagree with trading up, I understand why they did it.
The egregious and unforgivable mistake the Bears made was the process they used to find their quarterback. Watson was well worth a deep look and he has proven that to this point in his NFL career. Not bringing him in for an interview, for a workout or a dinner like they did with Trubisky shows a huge error in judgement and in their process. The Bears have some reflecting to do as an error at that position can damn a franchise and we’ve seen that too often with this one in particular.