Sam Darnold is the latest prediction for the Bears’ next quarterback

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I’ll be honest, a sense of relief fell on me after news of the Carson Wentz trade finally broke. He may be delighted to obsessively follow every rumor linking the Bears to a potential business target (whose future holds the cards for so many in the organization), but it’s also very exhausting. Unfortunately, just because a chapter is finished doesn’t mean the story is over.

Wentz joins the Colts, yes, but we’re obsessed with what’s left in the stack.

Next on the watch list, Sam Darnold:

Field Yates, an ESPN NFL insider, set out to predict each of the league’s starting quarterbacks for 2021. Some selections have been easy. Patrick Mahomes doesn’t leave the Chiefs for some time. And Tom Brady is the caller of the Buccaneers until he doesn’t want to be anymore. But as we discussed earlier, there is massive turnover potential for a good portion of the league. And when it comes to the Chicago Bears, Yates predicts the team’s big swing will take the form of a reclamation project.

Hello, Sam Darnold?

While Yates predicts the Jets will draft Zach Wilson with the second overall pick, Darnold – the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft – appears to be on the way out. Yates thinks it could be by way of trade, noting how Darnold has people in league circles who still believe in his talent. Could bears have these people? Yates seems to think so:

Why would Chicago be willing to commit to Darnold in a trade and (likely) a fifth-year option when the Jets wouldn’t? Simple. Bears general manager Ryan Pace needs to be much more focused on 2021 than the life beyond. Darnold represents a likely improvement over what the Bears have in place, and there’s certainly a chance he could stand up under different circumstances than he had in New York. But honestly, it’s tough to pin down the Bears’ next starter.

We can debate whether Darnold is an upgrade until we’re navy blue in the face. But Yates is right that Chicago needs to focus on 2021 with an immediate upgrade in mind. But Darnold – really? Darnold has just had a dismal season during which he threw more interceptions (11) than touchdowns (9). It was a year in which he completed less than 60% of his passes, while posting career-worst in yards / attempt (6.1) and yards / game (184.0), while finishing with a passer rating of 72.7.

Based on Webster’s definition of upgrade, I don’t think that’s it.

And yet I think Yates makes the most important point with his last sentence when he writes, “It’s hard to fix the Bears’ next starter.” General manager Ryan Pace is unpredictable. And apart from the chatter Wentz which preceded these last weeks, had done well to work in the shade. Therefore, it is difficult to pin down the Bears and make a prediction with confidence.

That being said, at least there are no illusions of grandeur when it comes to what the return of a Darnold chord looks like:

There will be no floating first round picks. Heck, even a first round (which was once thought to be the going rate) doesn’t even seem like the right price if the starting point of the report is a second round. Maybe something similar to what Miami sent to Arizona for Josh Rosen is a reasonable lineup (the Dolphins sent second and fifth round picks to the Cardinals)? Like Darnold, Rosen fell short of high expectations. But there’s a prospect pedigree and a post-threshing sleeper buzz that just won’t go away when discussing a recent first-round pick.

Ultimately, now that two high-level names are no longer on the board, we move on to the next. Here we go…



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