Should Bears try to sign Phillip Rivers or Tom Brady? |
For the longest time, the Bears have been searching for their franchise QB so they can build the team around them. After looking like Jay Cuttler may be their man, the Bears have been searching for their man ever since with hopes that current Starter Mitchell Trubisky would indeed be the answer.
When a team trades up to take you No. 2, there is a sense that they feel you are indeed franchise material, so you better show up on Sundays to prove everyone your worth that No. 2 selection. SO far though his first three seasons, Trubisky has yet to show he is franchise material, but his play was much better down the stretch last season than in seasons past. That gives the Bears a sense of optimism going forward, but with the defense they have in place and the amount of money invested in the offense over the past two offseasons, Chicago is almost in win-now mode before it becomes too late. That leaves me with the question should the Bears kick the tires on a veteran QB this offseason in hopes they can get the Bears where they want to go. Although there are a handful of names that the Bears could choose from, two names that are intriguing to me are both Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers. Yes, I understand that one is going on 43 years old, and the other one is 38, but both are established veterans who not only remained healthy their entire careers but played for one organization up until now, it seems. Even though both of these men have given their all for the last 16 years plus for their respective organizations, it appears that both of them are prepared to hit the open market this spring to see what kind of interest they can attract from the rest of the league. Given the amount of success that Brady has put together, you can bet that he will have his fair share of offers even at 43, but Rivers is a compelling case. Rivers and his family have recently been reported to be out of California and have moved to Florida. Given that he has spent his entire career with the Chargers organization, a move like that can only mean that he is indeed done with the team has played for the past 16 years. Rivers has never wowed you with hall of fame or MVP numbers, but he has been a steady QB ever since he walked on the field for the first time and has put up great numbers in the process. Yes, his interception rate is much higher than Chicago or any team would like, but that is because he isn’t afraid to take chances and looks to make things happen even when he probably shouldn’t. Rivers has been to the playoffs eight times in his career and has faired OK by advancing to two AFC title games. Although he has yet to get over the hump and make the Super Bowl, Rivers knows how to win in the postseason, which is something the Bears don’t have at QB. Rivers is getting to the point where he wants to win now and wants to have at least one more shot at a Super Bowl before he calls it quits. Maybe coming to an organization like Chicago is the perfect place knowing that he has a defense that can help take the pressure off him at times. However, with his age, I don’t know if the Bears would be willing to bring him in, especially if he is asking upwards of 10 plus million a year. With the Bears sitting at just under 8 million below the Salary Cap line right now, some changes are going to be made as Ryan Pace made it adamant that some competition for Trubisky is coming and could be good for the QB. Whether that is bringing in guys like Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, Marcus Mariota, Alex Smith or Nick Foles, all who have playoff experience under their belts and even super bowl appearances from two of them remain to be seen. Still, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Rivers and or Brady drawing interest from Chicago. This is a team that had an opportunity to make some noise in the postseason a year ago only to take a significant step back this year. Was it all on the play at the QB position, of course, it wasn’t, but at the same time Trubisky and company didn’t do anything to help this team when other aspects of it were failing. Chicago certainly believes in Trubisky, and they are not giving up on him quite yet, but giving him some competition or potentially bringing in a win-now attitude veteran could undoubtedly change the viewpoint of this franchise moving forward.
