The Chicago Bears Have FOMO

After another disappointing beginning to the offseason, I was at my wit’s end with the Chicago Bears. I just didn’t know why they did the things they did as it is so frustratingly stupid that I should expect it by now, but yet it never ceases to amaze me. I finally realized that the Chicago Bears issue is that they have a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). That is the only way to explain how they run their front office.

They find a player they are interested in and instead of recognizing flaws and positional needs of other organizations, they go in thinking that 31 teams are thinking exactly the same thing they are. This causes panic, and it leads to absolutely awful decisions. When you think that everyone is thinking like you, there is no way to have patience, and this has led to so many issues. But they have one goal, get a guy now, by any means necessary, to avoid having to worry about getting a guy later. Now that guy could be worse at times, but patience could sometimes (often, in fact) lead to getting a better guy later on.

The most egregious example is trading up from #3 to #2 to draft Mitchell Trubisky. I have been on record that I did not mind taking Trubisky as I loved him coming out of college and still believe that he will bounce back this coming season. But trading multiple picks to move up one spot when Trubisky was not the consensus top quarterback was insane. Those two third round picks the Bears gave up turned into Alvin Kamara and Fred Warner.

To regain some draft capital, the Bears traded down in the second round, causing them to miss out on talent like Dalvin Cook and Curtis Samuel. Right before the Bears were set to select, the Rams took Gerald Everett. No telling whether this caused the Bears to panic and take Adam Shaheen with the next pick. It’s not like patience could have helped, oh, except for George Kittle going in the fifth round.

I will admit that looking back on a draft and judging things is unfair, especially one where the Bears snagged Eddie Jackson and Tarik Cohen in later rounds, but let’s remember that offseason. The Bears were going into 2017 with no clear quarterback so they signed Mike Glennon to a 3-year, $45 million deal with $18.5 million guaranteed. Why did they need to rush out and sign Mike Glennon? I don’t think anybody on Earth can explain that one, but they bid against themselves for the honor of bringing on Glennon. He was released after one year.

Oh, and don’t worry, the Bears definitely didn’t learn their lesson as they signed Mike Davis last offseason for two years and $6 million because they just had to have a running back to pair with Tarik Cohen. No offense to Mike Davis, but running backs grow from trees in the NFL. They later traded up to draft David Montgomery and Mike Davis didn’t even last an entire season before being released.

Finally, we get to this offseason. Let’s start with the mildly positives. I like Robert Quinn, and you probably think that his 11.5 sack performance last year is a reason to be excited. That’s nice and all, but Quinn was also a state champion wrestler in high school, and I will always support wrestlers, especially along the lines. Would I have rather had Vic Beasley on a one-year deal? Sure, but that’s nitpicking as pass rushers are something that I am fine paying for, because those guys pay off.

Now things go downhill. Jimmy Graham? Seriously? He’s had one productive year in the last five seasons and that was 2016. He did score 10 TDs in 2017, but considering he barely had 500 yards, it’s tough for me to get excited about that. Jimmy Graham used to be awesome, but unless the Bears can rewind time to 2014, this is asinine. He will compete with the other NINE tight ends on the roster.

And now, the main event. The Nick Foles trade. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but there is no way to not be surprised by this. I understand that the Bears wanted to bring in competition for Mitch Trubisky, but there were plenty of reasonable options available. Also, the Jaguars were DESPERATE to get out from under Foles’s terrible contract. Everyone in the world would have assumed that the Jaguars would include a pick just to get Foles off the team, and yet the Bears, negotiating against themselves, managed to give the Jaguars a fourth round pick. It’s fucking insane. And it doesn’t help that Nick Foles sucks, if they really wanted to give up a pick, they could have probably had Cam Newton for a fourth rounder, or they could have gotten Jameis Winston on a one-year deal for the money they are paying Foles. There was just absolutely no reason to pull this dumbass shit, and yet the Bears NEEDED to get a quarterback as soon as possible. It’s so shockingly stupid, yet still right in line with what the Bears always do.

So now they head into the season with major issues at offensive line, tight end, inside linebacker, and half the secondary. The Bears have two second-round picks and then don’t pick again until the fifth round. An extra fourth round pick would be pretty damn valuable for a team in that situation. Unfortunately, Bears fans will never know what could have been.

The Bears let their fear of missing out hurt them yet again in the long run. I guess it’s good they don’t have to worry about missing out; instead they can worry about missing the playoffs.

Is This Mitch Trubisky's Breakout Year?

As the world's number one Mitch Trubisky supporter as evidenced here, here, here, here, and here, I felt it was about time to weigh in on what to expect from the future hall-of-famer as he embarks on his second professional season. It is a weird feeling for Bears fans, because for the first time since Sexy Rexy was throwing it deep every chance he got, there is actually a buzz about this team, and this may be the first time ever where that buzz is seriously centered around the offense.

With an unbiased opinion, it's hard to say that Trubisky was an overwhelming success in his rookie year. Still, there were some mitigating factors working against him as John Fox and Dowell Loggains coached what was likely the most boring offense in the NFL. It makes sense as the dowel is easily the most boring piece when building IKEA furniture. Trubisky was consistently throwing behind schedule which made his job as a rookie nearly impossible. It didn't help that the Bears best receiver last year was...um, Kendall Wright. And that's bad enough, but Kendall Wright was #1 by a WIDE margin. He had nearly twice as many yards as number two on the list, Josh Bellamy, and Wright still ended up with only 614 receiving yards. This was not a recipe for success.

Although as all of us true football guys know, stats are for losers, I did find an interesting article on Football Outsiders this week that went over quarterback success on a variety of routes. Here is where Mitch Trubisky ranks out of 35 qualifying quarterbacks on each route:

Curl - 35th
Out - 25th
Dig - 8th
Slant - 18th
Drag - 8th
Fly - 29th
Screen - 20th
Post - 9th
Comeback - 33rd
Broken Play - 22nd
Fade - 17th
Seam - 23rd

Now the first thing you will realize is that last year was not a rousing success. His highest finish is eighth best, and he was dead last at the curl route as well as very low in some other spots. The most interesting thing I noticed is that Trubisky had the most success on routes breaking into the middle of the field and struggled when throwing to the outside.

A huge positive to Trubisky having success in the middle of the field is that it confirms something that I suspected when watching him, and that he is able to see the field well. There are a whole lot more bodies around for those in-breaking routes, and Trubisky is able to diagnose and get yards over the middle of the field. He was the literal worst with curl routes, but I think it's fair to assume that part of the blame goes to his receiving targets.

Speaking of awful receivers, I can't totally ignore that he struggled to the routes that broke to the outside. I would say that this is a little concerning as these are generally tougher physical throws to make accurately, but this may be another case of his receivers not giving him a whole lot to work with. It may also be the lack of chemistry built with those receivers, especially since Mike Glennon was getting first team reps during the offseason and even for the first month of the season. It's something to keep an eye on, but it's a little early to be worried about it.

The biggest positive out of all of this is that there is hope on the horizon when it comes to the Bears coaching staff. With new head coach Matt Nagy and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, this offense will not only be interesting but is actually getting people excited. This is the reason for all of the buzz around the Bears this season, because if they still had the same coaching staff, Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton, and the epic return of Kevin White wouldn't matter (and maybe that last one still won't matter). With the added weapons and offensive minds that will play to Trubisky's strengths, this offense has everything it needs to put up points.

Now it's time for Trubisky to deliver.