What Exactly Are the Chicago Bears Doing?
Dustin Baker
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Normally when a team drafts a quarterback in the 1st Round, as the Minnesota Vikings secondary rival, the Chicago Bears, did in 2021, surrounding the young man with ample talent is on the menu. And this occurs especially in Year Two.
Alas, 2022 will be Year Two for Justin Fields from Ohio State, but the Bears aren’t doing much to empower the young passer. To be clear, they’re not doing nothing, yet the franchise’s free-agent moves to date are a little curious.
These are the team’s free-agent additions so far:
- FB Khari Blasingame
- G Dakota Dozier
- DT Justin Jones
- LB Nicholas Morrow
- DE Al-Quadin Muhammad
- DT Larry Ogunjobi
- C Lucas Patrick
- WR Byron Pringle
- WR Equanimeous St. Brown
- QB Trevor Siemian
Do you know who most of those players are? Didn’t think so.
And these are the roster subtractions:
- G Alex Bars
- CB Artie Burns
- G James Daniels
- WR Jakeem Grant
- WR Allen Robinson
- DE Bilal Nichols
- P Pat O’Donnell
- S Teez Tabor
- RB Damien Williams
- T Elijah Wilkinson
Fields lives on the roster with the coveted “rookie contract,” so the organization should be able to financially fill out a roster peppered with talent for the man to succeed — or at least have a puncher’s chance at doing so. In fact, that’s the goal with quarterbacks on rookie deals “these days,” hoping to strike while the iron’s hot like the Seattle Seahawks did in 2013 or the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019.
But nope. Here’s the Bears offensive depth chart as of March 27th via ESPN
Because they’re “the Bears,” there is full faith and confidence the defense will be just fine — no matter what. That’s what the Bears do. However, Fields needs help on his side of the pigskin. His weaponry, aside from David Montgomery and Darnell Mooney who are progressing nicely, is middling.
Perhaps new general Ryan Poles — who was in the mix for the Vikings general management gig — will orchestrate one of the greatest NFL draft classes ever. That might be the working theory. But the prospect of that is unlikely and leaves a lot to hope.
And for reasons like this — the Bears offense, in general — the NFC North is considered a punching bag heading into 2022.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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