The Chicago Bears, as an organization, deserve a tremendous amount of criticism. For decades, they have been a middling franchise that has leaned heavily on its status as a “charter franchise” to dodge the harshest of criticism.
You can call the Bears many things — incompetent, rudderless, disorganized, antiquated, clueless, etc. However, you can’t call them cheap, and a recent statistic underscores this.
On Thursday, Nick Wright was discussing the amount of resources the Bears have invested into the quarterback position since the end of the Jay Cutler era, and it is staggering.
The Chicago Bears are incompetent, not cheap.
In total, the team has wasted (and let’s call it what it is — a waste) $120 million and the number 3, 67, 70, and 111 overall picks. Yes, some of that total included in the money spent on backups Chase Daniel and Mark Sanchez, but it’s fair to ask what the value was to pay Daniel $10 million over two years to essentially babysit their No. 2 overall draft pick.
What’s more egregious, though, is the $45 million wasted on Mike Glennon, the $29 million and picks wasted on Mitchell Trubisky, and more recently the combined $34 million spent on Nick Foles and Andy Dalton.
It’s a shame, and really a confluence of events that has put the Bears in this situation. Unfortunately, they have a very naive, trusting ownership group who values relationships over results. Much like Clark W. Griswold once remarked about Cousin Eddie, George McCaskey’s “heart is bigger than his brain.”
That wouldn’t be such a fatal flaw if it wasn’t for the fact that the group he’s entrusting to make football decisions are equally incompetent in that regard.
The biggest concern I have, frankly is that the organization will tighten the purse strings, feeling burnt by the series of bad quarterback decisions from Ryan Pace and company.
And who wouldn’t be? Think of it this way — you may trust your financial advisor implicitly, but if he or she continues to make bad investments, you’re going to reconsider how much you give them to manage.
Recently, on 67o The Score, Brad Biggs intimated that while George may ok a large trade to acquire an established veteran like Russell Wilson, he may be reluctant to allow Pace to make a similar big move in the draft. In that regard, it appears Pace’s failures are already influencing their decisions. Look, I’m not a fan of Ryan Pace, but if you don’t trust your general manager to make a big move in the draft to get a franchise quarterback, then why is he in that seat?
