Red Rifle to Chicago
By: Michael Serio
Tags: Football, NFL, Covid-19, Money, Sports

Red Rifle to Chicago

The NFL Free Agency period is officially open. Moves are being made around the league and teams are filling voids on their rosters. The Chicago Bears have been in search of a franchise quarterback for… well their entire existence. Rumors were floating around that the Bears were going to make a big splash via trade in hopes of acquiring Russell Wilson from the Seahawks or the disgruntled Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans.

As we all know by now, the Bears had their shot at Deshaun Watson when he was coming out of Clemson. However, legend has it that the Bears didn’t even sit down to meet Deshaun Watson prior to the draft and decided to trade up to pick #2 only to select Mitchell Trubisky. That story is played out and old news. The door was open once again to land Watson via trade after he expressed his displeasure with the franchise and his desire to be dealt elsewhere. It was reported that the Bears among other teams could make a strong run at Watson, but the Texans have been adamant that they will not trade him. So okay, Deshaun Watson is out of the picture for Bears fans… How about Russell Wilson?

The Russell Wilson to the Bears rumors gained a ton of traction after it was reported that Wilson likes the possibility of playing in Chicago with their offensive scheme. Chicago was one of a select few teams that Wilson would accept a trade to. Now the ball was firmly in the Bears court. The front office would need to move swiftly in order to bring Russell Wilson to the Windy City.

According to multiple sources, the Bears shot their shot in hopes of landing the All- Pro, future Hall of Fame Quarterback. Here was the Bears offer to the Seahawks for Russell Wilson.

Three (3) 1st Round Picks

One (1) 3rd Round Pick

Two (2) Unnamed Starters… I would assume Nick Foles would have been one of the two players.

The Seahawks declined the offer.

Prior to this declined trade offer being public knowledge, the Chicago Bears agreed to terms with the former Cinncinati Bengals Quarterback and most recently the backup turned starter in Dallas, Andy Dalton.

Andy Dalton signed a 1-year, $10 million deal to come to Chicago and the fanbase was less than happy to put it lightly. If Chicago Bears fans weren’t calling for the heads of Ryan Pace and Ted Phillips prior to this, they are now.

Bears fans had their hopes set on either Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson… Instead, they get Andy Dalton.

Again, the Andy Dalton signing came out prior to any knowledge of the Bears attempt to land Russell Wilson. The haul that the Bears were prepared to give up for Wilson does take a bit of the sting out of the Andy Dalton signing (for me at least) because it showed the Bears pulled out all the stops in order to make a trade happen. There isn’t much more they could have given up. 3 first round picks, a 3rd round pick and 2 starting players is a ton to give up. In the end, Seattle declined and that’s the end of it.

While Andy Dalton is a far, far cry from Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson, you can’t say the Bears didn’t try.

I think that if Andy Dalton was the best the Bears could do in Free Agency or Trade, they should have stuck with Trubisky. Now, Trubisky will likely land with another team around the NFL where he can get a second chance at living up to his #2 overall draft selection.

The Bears are left with Dalton as their presumed starter who will be in charge of getting the ball into the hands of newly franchise-tagged Allen Robinson. Should be another interesting year in Chicago and not in a good way.