Bears fans who changed the channel late Sunday afternoon to root against the Cardinals — the team one game ahead of theirs in the NFC wild-card race — must have turned a particular shade of green with envy. What’s the name of the Eagles’ hue: midnight green?
Rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for 63 yards and another score, in the Eagles’ loss to the Cardinals. The week before, he upset the Saints, albeit with far more modest stats, in his first NFL start.
Unlike the other standout rookie quarterbacks this season — the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and the Chargers’ Justin Herbert — the Bears had a change to draft Hurts. Twice.
He was picked No. 53 overall — 10 spots after the Bears took tight end Cole Kmet and three spots after they selected cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
Both Kmet and Johnson have been standouts this season. The Bears’ offense is back on track entering Sunday’s game against the Jaguars, shepherded by quarterback Mitch Trubisky. They can make the playoffs by winning out, presuming the Cardinals lose one of their last two games.
The franchise still doesn’t have a long-term answer at quarterback, though. Trubisky is in the last year of his contract. Nick Foles, whom the Bears traded for this past offseason, is 2-5 as a starter this year.
Hurts would be so good, right?
That’s been said at different points this season about free agents the Bears passed on in March. But the feeling has rarely lasted. In retrospect, there are quarterbacks the Bears would rather have than Foles. However, none of them — short of two expensive future Hall of Famers — has altered the trajectory of his franchise this season.
That’s important when evaluating general manager Ryan Pace, whose job status is still tenuous, but also when projecting what the Bears might do at quarterback this offseason.
Drafting a quarterback — and paying him rookie scale for four or five years — is still the most efficient way to acquire the most important position in sports.
Quarterbacks who can make a real difference, though, rarely hit the free agent market. And when they do, they often disappoint.
A look at the passers the Bears considered last offseason, and how they’ve fared this year:
The Hall of Famers
Tom Brady — who signed a 2-year deal with the Buccaneers for $50 million plus passing and playoff incentives — is fifth in passing yards but 14th in passer rating. The Bucs are 9-5 and headed toward the playoffs, as long as they win one of their remaining two games..
Philip Rivers — who signed a 1-year, $25 million deal with the Colts — is 10th in yards and 12th in passer rating. The Colts are 10-4 and tied for the AFC South lead. This might be Rivers’ final season. In the spring, he was introduced as the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Ala., effective whenever he retires.
Rivers wanted to play for Frank Reich, his old Chargers assistant. Brady was sold by the Bucs’ skill position players, warm weather and Eastern location.
It would have taken financial gymnastics for the Bears to fit either player onto the roster. Both Brady and Rivers carry a $25 million cap hit this season. By contrast, outside linebacker Robert Quinn, the Bears’ big-money offseason flop — he signed the NFL’s second-largest deal of the offseason, in terms of total dollars — has only a $6.1 million cap hit this year because he signed a five-year deal.
Still, either quarterback would have been an obvious upgrade this year.
The former MVP
Pace must have gone to bed feeling sick on Sept. 20. Cam Newton, who signed with the Patriots for just $1.5 million plus incentives, had just torched the Seahawks on “Sunday Night Football,” throwing for 397 yards and running for another 47 and two touchdowns.
He was a revelation.
Ever since? He’s been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
Running the Patriots’ conservative system, Newton has run for 489 yards, the third-most among quarterbacks. But he’s thrown for less than 100 yards in three games and less than 175 eight times. He has five passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His 79.6 passer rating is 30th in the league, one spot behind Foles.
Newton doesn’t look like a starter in 2020 — or 2021.
The stable starter
Teddy Bridgewater signed the biggest free agent contract for a quarterback last offseason — for $63 million over three years.
Entering the Panthers’ game against the Bears in October, Bridgewater was 3-2 and led the league in completion percentage.
Since then, he’s 0-8 as the starter. He’s thrown 14 touchdowns — the same number as Trubisky, but in five more starts.
The Panthers’ lone during that span came without him. Monday, they fired their general manager. In explaining the move, owner David Tepper didn’t sound sold on Bridgewater on the team’s quarterback of the future.
“Unless you have that guy, for sure, that gets you to the playoffs and Super Bowls, you have to keep re-evaluating,” he told reporters.
The pedigreed
The first two picks of the 2015 draft were free agents last offseason. Neither has started this year — but that could end this week.
When Marcus Mariota signed with the Raiders for two years and $17.6 million, it seemed like a lot of money for a backup. The Bears, of course, then traded a fourth-round pick for Foles, who was guaranteed $22 million over three years.
Mariota didn’t see the field until last week when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr hurt his groin. He threw for 226 yards against the Chargers and ran for 88 more, showing the athleticism that would have fit nicely in the Bears’ new scheme.
Jameis Winston, the No. 1 overall pick five years ago, signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal to be the Saints’ third-string quarterback. When Drew Brees was hurt, the Saints turned to Taysom Hill — and not Winston.
The backups
The Bears traded for Foles rather than waiting for the Bengals to cut Andy Dalton. They should have done the latter. Dalton is making $3 million on a one-year deal with the Cowboys. He’s been mediocre, winning three of seven starts and suffering a scary concussion after replacing the injured Dak Prescott. But at least he’s cheap.
Otherwise, the Bears don’t regret passing on the available backups. Neither the Browns’ Case Keenum nor the Lions’ Chase Daniel has started a game, while the Broncos’ Jeff Driskel and the Giants’ Colt McCoy have combined to start three.˜
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