What The Chicago Bears Need To Do In Free Agency

The Bears head into the 2020 offseason coming off a very disappointing year that saw them fall from playoff team to non-contender, and the guy they hoped would be their franchise quarterback took a massive step backwards and basically took a massive dump on the field as Mitch Trubisky was just terrible. I still love Mitch, and I have made that very clear on this website, so my free agent plans do not include a quarterback, not that the Bears have enough money to get one anyway.

In fact, the Bears have such little money that we first need to focus on finding more cap space. The easy one is Kyle Long retired, so his money is no longer tied up. After that, I feel like Trey Burton is a pretty obvious cut. I think the only obvious other cut would be Buster Skrine. According to Over The Cap, that puts them at just under $13 million which still ain’t much, but it’s something. They also released Prince Amukamara and Taylor Gabriel which definitely adds to the breathing room but also leaves two more holes on the roster. I think they have to go with somebody in free agency for the former but probably address the latter in the draft.

The good news for the Bears is they don’t have many holes to fill. They obviously need a guard, tight end, and slot corner, but outside of that, they are only losing Clinton-Dix at safety and Trevathan at middle linebacker where they can probably depend on Nick Kwitakoski to take that spot over.

With that limited cap space, they probably are going to have to look to the draft to fill some of those holes, but I do think they have enough wiggle room to strengthen the team in the free agent market. Here are the guys I would target for the Chicago Bears.

First off, they should bring Greg Olsen home. He was originally drafted by the Bears but then traded for nothing because he didn’t fit into Mike Martz’s scheme. That is probably more of an indictment of the scheme than of the player as Greg Olsen has been and still is awesome. (Note: I wrote this weeks ago but didn't find the right time to publish it, so not great by me)

Uh, I heard Jordan Reed might be available. If he's healthy, that could be just what the Bears need. Tyler Eifert would be in the same boat. Neither guy has much of a chance of being healthy the whole year, but IF they do manage to stay healthy, it could be a hell of a deal for the Bears.

The next guy to target is Austin Blythe, because unfortunately, Brandon Scherff ain’t gonna happen with this limited cap space, and the Bears still need as many Iowa boys as possible along the line. Put a Whitehair in the middle of two Hawkeyes and you’ve got yourself a nice little interior line.

For that corner hole that they have, the choice is obvious. I have an obsession with brothers, especially when they play with each other. If the Bears united Kyle and Kendall Fuller as their starting corners, they probably won't give up a passing touchdown all season long. It will be fantastic.

And that’s it. They can make some late moves with guys that fall through the cracks, but they just don’t have the resources to be aggressive in in free agency. The Bears have to draft well. They may not have a first rounder, but luckily for them, the positions they are looking to fill are not premium positions. The biggest necessity is help in the secondary. Geno Stone in the fifth round sounds mighty enticing to me. Their tackles are still below average, but all the Bears can do is pray somebody falls to them. Hopefully Tristan Wirfs gets caught with a gas mask bong before the draft?

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.