NEWSLETTER
If you believe the Bears are playing for nothing today, you’re lying to yourself: The first overall pick is still in play. And that matters a whole lot. In case you forgot how they can land each of the picks from 1-4, here’s your primer.
As a reminder, Chicago hasn’t had the first overall pick since 1947 and hasn’t really been in play for it since the infamous Terry Bradshaw coin-flip loss. It’s not that the Bears haven’t been bad. They just haven’t been bad enough to fully capitalize on their situation. Again, until today.
And this is where an old friend comes into play.
Lovie Smith is on the hot seat in Houston. The Texans are bad (again) and their top decision makers appear to be on the cusp of jettisoning their head coach (again):
Bringing Smith into a no-win situation and having back-to-back years with a one-and-done head coach would be a bad look for the Texans. And while the Bears aren’t without their flaws, the Texans organization runs circles around Chicago’s apparent ineptitude. And it’s not even close. That Lovie needs to beg for a second season is ridiculous. This shouldn’t be happening. He deserves better. Hence, we’re backing his Texans with nothing but our full-fledged support.
In a way, Lovie holds the keys to the Bears’ draft future. A Texans win against the Colts and Bears loss to the Vikings would give Chicago’s football team the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. That would pave the way for the Bears to pretend like they want to draft a quarterback and dangle the pick to the highest bidder. And there should be no shortage of teams with an interest in drafting Alabama’s Bryce Young or Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
So, with that in mind, wouldn’t it be something if Lovie went out of his way to ignore the tank efforts in place and won today’s game against the Indianapolis Colts? I’d say so. And it is something that all Bears fans can get behind. It’s not like we haven’t rooted for him in the past. So … let’s do it for old-time’s sake.
