Bears Can Do Better at Backup

Analysis: Options at backup quarterback for the Bears could create a challenger or replacement for Trevor Siemian.

The Bears have what looks like a difficult decision ahead at quarterback.

Sorry Colin Cowherd, Todd McShay, Jason La Canfora, Warren Sapp and other popular Justin Fields consipracy theorists.  

The problem at quarterback doesn't even involve Fields, who is their starter for next year according to words directly from the mouth of GM Ryan Poles at the season-ending press conference.

The problem is their backup quarterback situation. They might not regard this as a problem, but it is.

Trevor Siemian was brought in as the backup to Fields and was paid a decent amount for a backup at $4 million over two years. He took 60 snaps, 57 of them in one game and three in another one.

Siemian was needed against the Jets because of Fields' left shoulder injury and very nearly missed the game. He came up with an oblique injury requiring surgery during warmups. He played the game, went 14 of 25 for 179 yards with a TD and an interception and was done for the year.

The Bears were left to rely on practice squad players Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle to finish the season in the finale with Minnesota after a hip injury to Fields.

Siemian is a backup whose main purpose is to provide emergency relief for the starter, and he came up with an oblique injury instead.

In his previous stint, Siemian was 0-4 in starts as a backup for New Orleans in 2021. In 2019, he suffered a severe season-ending ankle injury after one game, a loss while playing with the Jets.

So he has lost in six stright starts dating back through 2018. His last four starts as the Broncos starter in 2017 included games with passer ratings of 39.8, 30.5 and 43.5.

It's not a great record of dependability.

The Bears certainly can do better than this at backup quarterback and aren't under the same restrictions for cash as last year.

If they're going to rely on their starter to rush for over 1,000 yards and fail to provide him with adequate offensive line protection, they better have someone who can answer the bell as the backup. Fields is going to take a beating with all the running. He already has.

Ideally, your backup quarterback needs to be someone who can come in and win some games until the starter can return.

The Bears are committed by contract to Siemian but they can tear up the deal without much concern for its effect on their salary cap. In fact, they'd save money. According to Overthecap.com, if Siemian is cut before or after June 1, the Bears save $1.965 million against the cap and they'll eat $500,000 in dead cap. So it would be a net gain of $1.465 million.

Siemian was a sentimental addition when he came to the Bears because he started for Northwestern during a bowl run. He knows their offense and that's a marker on his side, but sentiment means nothing in the NFL compared to winning. 

How valuable is knowledge of the offense if your record when starting is six straight losses for three teams and a handful of injuries?

The Bears could always invite Siemian back in for camp and bring in another quarterback to compete with him for the job.

When they signed Siemian, they were up against it a bit because of their cap situation and had waited until March 29, two full weeks into free agency when costs go down.

The option of drafting a Fields backup is always one the Bears could consider, but why?

Rookie quarterbacks who are not already starters are developmental players. Forced into a game when they're obviously not ready, they're more likely to lose and play poorly. Countless rookie passers thrust into first starts before their time say so.

What the Bears have the money to easily do is bring in a veteran backup who can provide real relief and maybe win if Fields isn't available. Who knows? Maybe one of these available veterans might even challenge Fields a bit for his playing time.

There is no reason to wait this year and no reason to look to pay pennies, for one. 

They can afford a backup with recent winning experience as a starter or backup, someone without health risks.

Here are the best options. These are potential backups or former starters, not starters.

Gardner Minshew 

Making the Super Bowl as a backup had to be fun. Now it's time to get on with his second contract. Minshew had a career record of 7-13 with a bad Jacksonville team and is 8-16 for his career. Of greater importance, he has a career 93.1 passer rating and only once has been below 7.0 yards per attempt. His 44 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions should get him more serious consideration as a starter somewhere. This would be a real QB who could be expected to produce if called upon or could be good enough to push Fields in camp and preseason. There are no projections on pay.

Baker Mayfield 

The Rams, Saints, Seahawks or Raiders might want him as a backup or a bridge starter and it would drive his cost up. But Spotrac.com projects his market cost at $6.5 million. He finished as backup to Matthew Stafford last year with an 86.4 passer rating for 129 attempts. He had four TDs and two interceptions in those five appearances for the Rams.

Sam Darnold 

His six starts last year for the Panthers showed real improvement over when he first came there in 2021. Darnold was 4-2 in six starts for a bad team, had a 92.6 passer rating and averaged 8.2 yards an attempt. No one shold complain about those numbers. But he's not regraded as their long-term answer and is a free agent with Spotrac.com projecting he'll get $5.1 million per year.

Drew Lock 

Assuming Geno Smith gets signed as Seahawks starter after getting them in the playoffs, this leaves their back up looking around as a free agent. Lock didn't throw a pass for them last year. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Seattle being "very pleased" with Lock as backup. Saying very pleased and showing it with pay are two different things. Is Lock even worth having as a backup? He was 8-13 starting for Denver with a 79.3 passer rating and 6.7 yards an attempt for three seasons. The Bears would probably be better off keeping Siemian as opposed to bringing in Lock.

Jacoby Brissett 

For pure backups, there is no way to go better in this offseason. Brissett is a backup and he is ranked the 33rd best free agent available by Pro Football Focus. They think he'll get a two-year deal worth $16 million, or $12 million more than the deal paid by the Bears to Siemian. Spotrac says much less at $5.4 million per year. He has a career 84.4 passer rating and had to start 11 times with an 88.9 rating for Cleveland last year while the Browns were waiting for Deshaun Watson to become available. Brissett has a career average per attempt of only 6.6 yards but his 7.1 last year were his most since 7.3 as a rookie with New England for three games in 2016. Brissett remains the champion of quarterback sneaks, and gets his yardage without cheating like Philadelphia does.

Teddy Bridgewater

He seems to have finally moved into the backup category after playing for four teams in four years, including backing up Tua Tagovailoa last year when he lost two starts. He remains a QB who can get the ball downfield. Bridgewater's career average per attempt is 7.3 and the only time he's ever been below 7.1 was when he played in one game in 2018 coming off his bad knee injury.

Cooper Rush

The Cowboys' home-grown backup got his first real chance the last two years and Dallas is 5-1 when he starts. maybe they better sign him to a long-term contract. He more or less left it in his defense's hands because he averaged just 6.5 yards an attempt last year in going 4-1 as a starter with 58% completions. Has a career 84.9 passer rating for five years.

Brandon Allen

After leaving Denver for Cincinnati, he proven adequate as backup to Joe Burrow. His career numbers aren't much after he struggled in Denver. He has 10 TDs and six interceptions for his career with a 78.0 passer rating.

Jarrett Stidham

The former Patriots backup is probably best off staying put in Las Vegas with familiar Patriots coordinator Josh McDaniels. He has never really been tested for a long stint, with just two starts and 13 games played. Last year he had two starts and was respectable with an 89.2 passer rating to go with 7.9 yards per attempt. However, they lost both starts.

P.J. Walker

Anyone who wanted a mobile backup who has been tested with seven starts and was willing to delve into restricted free agency could find a backup here. There likely would be no problem with compensation since he was undrafted and might not even be tendered an offer higher than minimum. Walker, the former XFL QB for Houston, has won four out of seven starts. He seems to do what it takes to win but hasn't been impressive as a passer with 57.5% completions, five TDs and 11 interceptions for a 63.9 rating.

Tyler Huntley

Huntley is a restricted free agent but as an undrafted player might be available without draft compensation depending on what amount of tender he receives, if any. He could do a pretty good job of imitating Fields' mobility but what could he do as a passer? In three seasons, he has been called upon for eight starts and 15 appearances as he is backing up running QB Lamar Jackson so he has to be ready. Huntley has run for 454 yards on 100 attempts, which isn't exactly dynamic yardage. He is 200 of 305 for 1,754 yards with a rating of 76.6 and only 5.8 yards an attempt. However, he was impressive at the Pro Bowl games, for whatever that's worth. Why he was there is uncertain.

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