Former Bear Doesn't See Russell Wilson Leaving Seattle

For years, Bears fans pined for tight end Greg Olsen after former GM Jerry Angelo sent him to Carolina in one of the dumber moves ever made by that personnel regime.

Olsen recently retired from football after a marvelous NFL career and is going into the broadcast booth. As he does this, he's bringing the Bears fans more bad news while he dissects the game.

They're not getting Russell Wilson.

"I think that's pie in the sky," Olsen said in a podcast with Colin Cowherd.

It's not what Bears fans want to hear but they need a massive dose of realism after reading and hearing rumor mongering suggesting the Seahawks would willingly eat $39 million of cap space to trade a disenchanted quarterback.

Olsen played in Seattle last season and understands how the coaching staff, ownership and Wilson all work. The Seahawks are not losing their quarterback, despite the fact ownership left his name off a letter to season ticket owners, and all of those reports over his disgust with the offense or being hit too often.

"If you're taking the odds today, he's back in Seattle," Olsen said. "They fix the things that they both agree on that needs to get better to push the organization forward."

Olsen's description of Wilson paints a picture of a player who feels trapped because he thinks he is better than one Super Bowl trophy.

This much is encouraging for Bears fans in that Wilson sounds like someone who would want out. It's actually also a bit troubling because it paints a picture of Wilson with far too much ego involved.

"He's the most professional, high-level guy maybe I've ever been been a part of regardless of position, but his legacy matters to him and I don’t blame him," Olsen said. "He's a one-time, Super Bowl champ, one-time Super Bowl loser. That matters to him.

"He wants to win three, four, multiple Super Bowls, and he wants it to be on his back because that's the type of competitor that he is. Will the Seattle Seahawks ever just say, 'here are the keys, go win us the Super Bowl offensively.' I'm not sure."

If this truly is what Wilson is feeling, he needs to take a double dose of realism. He had everything he needed to get to another Super Bowl and didn't get the Seahawks there.

The truth is, he had the second-best defense in the NFL backing him in 2015 and turned in the best passer rating in the league that season, but when the playoffs came he had a passer rating of 81.4. He failed to live up to the moment. He then had the fifth-best defense behind him in 2016 and had the worst passer rating of his career.

Windows of opportunity don't stay open forever and in that year it closed for Seattle. They went 9-7 and missed the playoffs the next year and have had trouble reaching the same heights defensively since then while giving Wilson plenty of offensive weapons to use.

It's true, he hasn't had a great offensive line. However, Germain Ifedi started four years there, left amid complaints he was bad and came to Chicago but hasn't been a bad lineman. So who knows how bad Wilson's blocking is? Maybe someone was just holding onto the ball too long. Wilson ranked poorly in terms of time required to throw the ball last year.

Wilson hasn't elevated them to the Super Bowl again. It doesn't mean he's Mitchell Trubisky or Blake Bortles. He's an excellent NFL quarterback with great numbers like 7.8 career yards per attempt, 8.4 in the playoffs.

The quarterback who gets in position has to do it when the opportunity presents itself but not doing it hardly means he's mediocre. Aaron Rodgers hasn't been back to one since 2010 and no one doubts his greatness.

It's not necessarily the fault of the team or ownership when they don't win it all. The other team, the other quarterback and other defense make a difference.

Patrick Mahomes didn't enjoy the benefit of a great defense or running game when he took the Super Bowl after the 2019 season. They were 17th defensively and 23rd rushing the ball. He rose to the moment.

Wilson might argue he hasn't been given the chance with too much emphasis on running and defense, but defense won the Super Bowl last season. Tom Brady wasn't out lighting it up at age 43. He did enough to win it, and the Tampa Bay defense overcame his mistakes in the NFC championship game. Both offense and defense stood out against Mahomes in the Super Bowl.

"Russ knows that if he wants to enter into that category that I believe he is already in, he needs to win more Super Bowls," Olsen said. "And he needs to now."

In the end, Olsen thinks both Wilson and Pete Carroll will come to an understanding that they need each other and Wilson will go forward with his Seattle career, trying to add to his legacy.

This would leave the Bears hanging onto their legacy—one of not having a quarterback worth a lick.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven