McCown’s Heater, A Field Goal Kicking Robot, Wentz and Ertz? and Other Bears Bullets

Roses are red,
the Bears wear blue,
Chicago’s football team needs a quarterback
to win Super Bowl number two!

•   A Carson Wentz trade felt imminent at this time last week. His destination was still to be determined, but buzz had grown enough to suggest that – once the Super Bowl ended – a deal would come together. Instead, nothing has come (yet) of the rumors that had Wentz being packaged to the Bears or Colts. And now, we’re at a point where trade conversations could include more than just Wentz:

•   The Eagles have work to do in order to get out from being over the cap. Moreover, Philadelphia probably needs to move on and clear the decks for a new coaching staff. Hence, Zach Ertz’s name popping up as a possible throw-in on a potential Wentz deal. Ertz, 30, had a down 2020. But didn’t we all? He caught 36 passes for 335 yards, scored one touchdown, and missed five games due to injury. Like Wentz, there’s a case that Ertz could also use a clean slate.

•   Alright, so maybe you’re thinking about how adding Ertz to a Wentz package could be a sweetener. Teaming Ertz and Cole Kmet seems like a good idea. But we can’t forget that Jimmy Graham is still under contract for 2021. And even thought he Bears could save $7 million in cap space, bringing on Ertz feels like rearranging deck chairs. Frankly, tacking on Ertz to a Wentz deal doesn’t do much for me until I can sort through what it means in terms of compensation going the other way. And that’s before diving into salary cap ramifications. Let’s face it. Once the Bears figure out the QB, they have other holes to plug. Doing so with limited resources figures to be a challenge.

•   Smooth transition into Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport sorting through some of the NFL’s most regrettable contracts. And in what is a disturbing trend, a fair number of the contracts were handed out last offseason. Among them was the bitter pill that is Robert Quinn’s deal. Going through this list serves as a cautionary tale of going all-in on the open market.

•   Allen Robinson definitely needed more red zone targets:

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1360982431730458631

•   Eep!

•   On the happier side of the quarterback equation:

•   If I could bottle up that Josh McCown heater from 2013 (8 games, 66.5% completions, 1,829 yards, 13 TD, 1 INT, 109.0 rating) and inject it into the veins of Chicago’s next quarterback, it would be a game-changer. In case you’re curious, those numbers project out to a 3,568-yard, 26-touchdown, 2-interception season. Team those numbers with that 2021 Bears defense and let your imagination run wild.

•   Remembering the game of a lifetime for Josh McCown:

https://twitter.com/ChiSportsDay/status/1204041760474894337

•   It wasn’t perfect, but I tip my cap to the NFL for its efforts in making it through a season during a global pandemic:

•   Here’s a football-kicking robot for no reason in particular:

•   What a message:

•   Weak sauce:

•   This goal is as lovely as our Blackhawks coverage:

written by

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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