Remember the Russell Wilson saga? Seems like forever ago at this point but it happened. According to several reports, the Chicago Bears made a strong push to trade for the seven-time Pro Bowler. After coming close with a deal that included three 1st round picks, a 3rd round pick, and two players it seems head coach Pete Carroll stopped it. Wild story, right? Well, former NFL quarterback Chris Simms has something that may top it.
During his “Chris Simms UnButtoned” program, he and his co-host were discussing the Bears’ signing of veteran quarterback Andy Dalton. Inevitably the subject of Wilson came up. Rather than offer his opinion on matters, Simms dropped quite a major bombshell. Based on multiple people he’s talked to who are “close” to the situation, the Bears never actually made a formal offer to Seattle.
It was 100% fabricated.
Why? Nothing more than a public relations ploy. He seems to think the Bears already had designs on signing Dalton. However, with Wilson putting them on his shortlist of preferred teams publicly, they would’ve been eviscerated if they didn’t at least try to make a play for him. So they cooked up a creative scheme to make it seem like they made an aggressive push and let the media do the rest.
Could this possibly be true? No disrespect to Simms but this would mean the top insiders in the NFL like Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter were both completely fooled by the Bears’ scheme. Not to mention several others. It is one thing for GM Ryan Pace to successfully keep information a secret, but to cook up a fake trade offer that everybody would buy? That feels like kind of a reach.
So what if Chris Simms is actually onto something?
It wouldn’t be the best look for the Bears. If only because their plan would’ve backfired in a gigantic way. The Dalton news was met with incredible venom from fans. People saw it as Pace settling for average when he could’ve pushed for greatness. It probably would’ve been better if he’d never gotten involved at all. Just come out said we’d love to get Wilson but we just don’t have the draft picks or the money.
People would’ve still been upset but at least then they wouldn’t have had false hope dangled in front of their faces. Instead, they were led to believe Wilson was possible and then had it ripped away from them. This made the Dalton signing look like a clear defeat, through no fault of his own. Chris Simms claims that he was always the endgame. Wilson was a smokescreen.
Is it true?
There is no way to know for sure. Seattle and Chicago won’t divulge that information. Schefter for his part has remained adamant that the Bears haven’t stopped staying in contact with the Seahawks. They still feel it’s possible Wilson becomes available eventually. It is merely a matter of the team finding a quarterback they’d be comfortable with moving on to. Only then will they entertain trading their star.