Patrick Smith/Getty Images Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers during a game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on November 01, 2020.
Did Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace try to solve the Chicago Bears‘ perpetual problems at quarterback by trying to acquire the services of an aging Ben Roethlisberger? According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Chicago was ready to sign Big Ben to a deal this offseason if he wasn’t able to work something out with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Chicago needs a major upgrade, and the options are limited,” La Canfora said in his latest column. “League sources said the Bears were in fact pretty serious about Carson Wentz, and had internal discussions about Big Ben as well and were primed to be perhaps the only landing spot for him had he not agreed to take a significant pay cut to stay in Pittsburgh.”
La Canfora doesn’t exactly have the most sterling rep when it comes to breaking Bears-related news, however. In 2015, he said there was a “good probability” Vic Fangio would head to Washington as the team’s next defensive coordinator, and Fangio headed to Chicago shortly after. He also wrongly called whether Adam Gase would consider being an offensive coordinator in Chicago that same year, so I tend to take everything he writes and Tweets about the Bears specifically with a grain of salt. That said, it seems clear the Bears are looking for a strong leader under center this offseason based on the recent comments of their head coach.
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Matt Nagy’s Recent Comments About QBs Are Interesting
When he was asked what qualities he most looks for in a starting quarterback, Matt Nagy said the following:
“Every quarterback leads in different ways. I was around a guy with Alex Smith where he was a happy medium. He wasn’t a yeller and screamer at the guys, but he wasn’t quiet. He was right down the middle,” Nagy noted last week. “Every guy has their own way that they do it, but they all lead in a certain way and they multiply the players around them. I’d say leadership, decision-making and if you have some versatility as a quarterback with your legs, great. If you don’t, no problem. We can work around it.”
Roethlisberger has two of those three qualities, but so does Smith, and he’s also available at the moment. The 17-year vet, who has won two Super Bowls with the Steelers, finished the 2020 season completing 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,803 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Bears are clearly desperate to find a leader at the quarterback position who can elevate the team, so it’s entirely possible they gave Big Ben a long, hard look.
You know who does have all three of those qualities? Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson.
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Bears Are One of League’s Most Desperate Teams
According to La Canfora, the Bears are also “prepared to throw a boatload of picks at the Texans — for Deshaun Watson — and Seahawks — for Russell Wilson — in an attempt to upgrade at the most important position in all of professional sports.”
As a growing number of analysts have stated, the Russell Wilson-to-Chicago hype is gaining more steam by the day. Many feel that as GM, Pace is of the mindset he needs to secure a top quarterback in order to keep his job secure: “They are beyond serious and, as is generally the case when job security is at the fore, future picks in like 2023 don’t hold all that much value in real time. They don’t have the type of young, cheap talent that some other trade suitors do, but you can always keep throwing future top draft picks at the problem,” La Canfora added.
La Canfora also cited one NFL insider as saying the desperation is very real in Halas Hall: “There is a real sense of panic in that building. Don’t underestimate how desperate they are.”
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