Adding Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson would be a dream scenario for Chicago Bears fans. A ton of luck is required for that to even be possible. Yet that is where things stand. Both look like possible trade candidates. Snagging either one makes this team instant Super Bowl contenders, right? At least one person isn’t ready to buy into that idea. Former All-Pro center Olin Kreutz.
This man has followed Bears football for a long time. He played it from 1998 to 2010 and then after retiring he eventually started to cover the team as an analyst. Nobody has a better grasp of Chicago’s misery at quarterback than him. After all, he had to snap the ball to so many of the names that fans have tried to forget from Cade McNown to Craig Krenzel and Todd Collins.
There is no question bad quarterbacks headline the Bears’ issues.
However, one thing about Kreutz is he’s good at seeing the entire picture. Chicago’s offenses weren’t just plagued by QB issues. There were also problems along the offensive line, at wide receiver, and on the coaching staff as well. This is why he gave a rather chilling warning in an interview with Adam Jahns of The Athletic. Even if the team manages to land a top quarterback, that doesn’t mean he’ll succeed.
“It takes so many good football players to be good on one side of the ball, and the way you know that is, why are the Chicago Bears good on defense? Well, take a look at their history,” Kreutz said. “And take a look at not only who is on the field but take a look who was coaching those years. It takes that many good guys in the building on one side of the ball to be good on that side of the ball.
“And the Bears don’t seem to know that on offense. They seem to think that if, ‘Well, if I just get this quarterback. I’ll be all right.’ And that’s why you’ll hear me say, ‘Getting that quarterback is fine, but you can still screw it up.’”
Kreutz hasn’t kept his criticism of the Bears’ offense to just the quarterbacks over the past two years. Head coach Matt Nagy (who installed the system) and the offensive line have each gotten some rough critiques. Is a QB really going to start making those look better? He can’t be sure. This is why it wouldn’t be wise to assume everything will be magically fixed even if Wilson or Watson in town.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Olin Kreutz is correct, whether you like it or not
The job wouldn’t end for the Bears if they managed to pull off such a trade. That was the mistake they made back in 2009 with Jay Cutler. They thought acquiring the Pro Bowl QB in his prime would magically transform their offense into a top 10 group. Only to realize that his arrival exposed just how bad their offensive line and wide receiving corp actually was. By the time they managed to fix both? It was too late. The defense they’d been hoping to salvage had fallen apart.
Now here they are again. Chasing another top QB hoping it’ll solve everything wrong with the offense. Olin Kreutz knows they can’t afford to stop at just that. The offensive line needs attention as does wide receiver. Every resource must be exhausted to improve the entire offense. One must not forget this is still a team sport. A quarterback is only as good as those around them.
This isn’t to say it will end in failure.
The Bears still had some success when they traded for Cutler. They reached the NFC championship in just his second season. They just did a poor jump of building around him. That can’t happen again if they’re lucky enough to land one of these big names on the market. The next two months figure to be pretty crazy.