The Bears have to move off Mitch Trubisky. I knew that the second they drafted him. Now the rest of the NFL community has figured that out. Who is going to be the Bears quarterback next year? Could it be Cam Newton? Maybe Teddy Bridgewater is the guy? Can Chicago get lucky in the draft despite not having a first round pick? What about this idea… Marcus Mariota!
Mariota stinks too, but Bill Barnwell wrote an interesting column for ESPN. At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense. Then you figure out there is an obvious connection. Barnwell said this about Mariota’s landing spot for 2020:
“Most likely 2020 status: Unrestricted free agent. The obvious landing spot for Mariota is with the Bears — former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich is the offensive coordinator in Chicago. The Bears could decide to move on from Helfrich after a frustrating season, but if they don’t, Mariota should have a great sense of what they are trying to do on offense and should be just good enough to push Trubisky without actually threatening to immediately steal his job.”
The Bears offense has been dreadful so it’s no lock that Helfrich is even back. They have been better the past two weeks with decisive wins over Detroit and Dallas. The Bears still need to bring in competition for Trubisky. Marcus Mariota is very similar to Trubisky when you think about it. Not the best passers but do have some athletic traits. This isn’t the route I would go but I can see the Bears doing something like this.
With no first round pick, Chicago may have to go with a veteran option. They also have no cap space what so ever and may be forced to change the roster quite a bit to even sign someone.
