Scratch Tom Brady off Any Realistic Bears QB Short List
There is a line of thought on last week's Mitchell Trubisky proclamation by Bears general manager Ryan Pace for 2020 that he possibly didn't name next season's starting quarterback.
The theory is the Bears never say what they really mean at press conferences.
This is a complete fallacy.
They don't always say everything, they may hedge, they may change the subject and circle around a question, like they did when talking about Kyle Long's future.
When they say something absolutely though, they do mean it barring something extraordinary.
And when Pace was asked if he had enough to go on to feel confident Trubisky is going to be the unquestioned No. 1 quarterback going into 2020, he said: "We do. With Mitch, we need more time in the coming months to evaluate everything. The first thing that comes to mind for me is just consistency. You see moments, you see games, but for him streaming together better consistency. You have the peaks and valleys. We just need to flatten that out."
There was no hedging. Pace called Trubisky the starter.
What the Bears left open was the plan for the backup because Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray are free agents.
So what the Bears are open to bringing in is a quarterback capable of starting if Trubisky's development goes as poorly as it did in 2019.
This immediately precludes people like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and probably even Eli Manning. If Manning wanted to sit around waiting for Trubisky to bomb out, he just as easily could stay in New York to do this with Daniel Jones. Brees and Brady would retire before being backups.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Monday told Peter King Brady would either sign another Patriots contract or retire.
Rivers might be the same way. The money required to sign all of them is well beyond what the Bears would have available.
Two other potentially available quarterbacks are Andy Dalton and Cam Newton.
Dalton has thrown double-digit interceptions in seven of his nine seasons even with a brilliant receiver like A.J. Green, and will want a bigger salary and to at least challenge for a starting job.
Newton would also have to be a starter and isn't even a free agent, although he would only cost the Panthers' new regime $2 million against the cap to clean out $19 million against it.
Both of those would have to be considered outside shots as a result.
Teddy Bridgewater is a free agent and displayed solid skills during an injury break by Brees. He has to be considered a strong favorite to eventually replace Brees, and with the way Brees played against the Vikings that would appear sooner ahead of later.
Essentially the Bears will be left with only four veteran options to pursue for a possible Trubisky challenger and/or backup.
4. Chase Daniel
Bringing Daniel back for a less money than the two-year, $10 million deal he had wouldn't allow for a serious challenger or even a long-term option if Trubisky bombs out. Daniel is obviously limited in what he can do beyond one or two games as a backup, but he knows the offense well enough to do those short-term substitution stints.
3. Ryan Tannehill
No one can deny he helped the Titans improve and get past New England in the playoffs, and no doubt the Titans would want to consider keeping him after they got past New England. However, Tennessee success is less due to Tannehill's passing arm than it is based on running back Derrick Henry's legs. With the Bears, Tannehill would have no such offensive crutch to lean on, although the defense is solid enough to prop up anyone. The major drawback with Tannehill is the Titans may well keep him around now after getting within two wins of the Super Bowl.
2. Case Keenum
He was in an NFC championship game two years ago for Minnesota, and in Washington this year was just caught up in a horrible situation. At age 32 next season, he'd be young enough to still lean on for a season or two if Trubisky falters. He had a better passer rating (91.3) and higher yards per attempt (6.9) than Trubisky even though he was playing with the miserable Redskins.
1. Marcus Mariota
Still the top option as both a challenger and backup to Trubisky, Pace liked him coming out of college, and he's very familiar with RPO offenses like the Bears run even though they just fired his old college coach, Mark Helfrich. He's still young enough to run if the RPO breaks down, and is a decent scrambler. Nagy showed an ability to recycle a quarterback when he helped Alex Smith turn around his game with the Chiefs. This would be a similar project. He's a little taller and a little more accurate with passes than Trubisky has been.
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