The Gould Standard: Bears Picking a QB at No. 1? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Everybody wants to know what the Bears are going to do. Well, all those long-suffering football fans in Sweet Home Chicago, anyway.
Given that they have the No. 1 overall pick, I expect them to do what everyone expects them to do: Draft Caleb Williams and trade Justin Fields.
What we don’t know: Is Caleb Williams really and truly the best quarterback in this draft? How about Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix Jr. Bo Nix, J.J. McCarthy and Quinn Ewers? Who’s going to wind up having the best NFL career?
Caleb Williams looks like the winner of all the things they measure at the Combine. But the Caleb Williams I saw on the field last fall looked awfully flummoxed at times.
These questions always remind me of the old Damon Runyon quote: ``The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's how the smart money bets.’’
Which is generally a good policy.
On the other hand, when I was doing an NCAA tournament bracket for Chicago Sun-Times readers that was supposed to be a winner, my editor sent it back to me if I picked too many of the swift and the strong. ``Too much chalk,’’ he would say, demanding scrawny, slew-footed Davids.
I’ve been disoriented ever since.
Not saying the Bears shouldn’t draft Caleb. Just saying the Bears have a history of making curious quarterback decisions. Mitch Trubisky. . . Jay Cutler. . . let’s just stop there for now.
For the record, I thought Trubisky and Cutler were bad ideas from the get-go. This time, it’s a little more of a gray area. Let’s see what general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus have up their sleeves. That’s Ryan-Matt 2.0, not to be confused with Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy, who preferred Trubisky to, um, Patrick Mahomes.
Let’s just say, though, that IF we wanted to think outside the box. I find it interesting that the Bears also have the No. 9 pick in the draft.
A really shrewd and competent organization, if they decided that Caleb Williams is over-rated and knew what they were doing, could grab wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who’s going to make some lucky QB look awfully good, with the No. 1 pick. And then, at No. 9, take McCarthy. Pride of La Grange Park/Nazareth Academy. Feisty smart winner. Quick feet. Makes good decisions. Yada yada.
Or one of those other QBs. (Ryan-Matt 2.0 spend their entire waking lives pondering this. They ought to have notions.) And then, maybe sign Russell Wilson. Because this business of throwing rookie QBs into the fire, no matter how good they are, isn’t a great idea in the NFL.
Yeah, Russell Wilson was a thorny deal in Denver. But when was the last time the Bears had smooth sailing at quarterback? If the Bears are gonna be messy, let’s at least have some fun.
Oh and by the way, the Bears also need to trade Fields. Which is sort of like selling a car three months after driving it out of the showroom. Second-round pick if they’re lucky.
Admittedly, these are just the musings of an old scribe.
Then again, I’ve seen a lot of strange Bears quarterbacking in my day. I remember watching Billy Wade guide them to the 1963 title. Only to be replaced by Rudy Bukich.
I remember Virgil Carter reading the plays off the tape on his wrist. Jack Concannon kneeling in the huddle. Walter Payton running out of a single-wing.
I even remember the training staff giving Jim McMahon a shot in the butt on the sideline in St. Louis in 1984 (right before the Cardinals moved) while they futilely tried to circle around McMahon so we couldn’t see.
The only thing I don’t remember is a Bears Hall of Fame quarterback. Who knew that Sid Luckman would still be the last in a short line?