A team is only as good as the worst decisions it makes over the years. Part of why the Chicago Bears haven’t won a Super Bowl in over three decades is because they’ve made some really bad calls. Some in the draft, some in free agency, and some in the trade market. That last one certainly carries its own bit of controversy. While the team has made several such moves in the past 20 years, one stands above the rest for all the wrong reasons. Trading Greg Olsen to Carolina in 2011.
David Kenyon of Bleacher Report revealed a list of the seven worst offseason trades since 2000. Unsurprisingly, the Houston Texans sending DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona for a 2nd round pick was the big winner. However, the Bears didn’t escape ridicule. Their decision to deal Olsen for a 3rd round pick to Carolina earned them the 5th spot on the list. The lack of flexibility and forward-thinking characterized it and set the tone for the rest of the decade.
“During the 2007 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears used a first-round selection on Miami tight end Greg Olsen. He put up respectable numbers over a four-year stretch in Chicago but never exactly thrived in Mike Martz’s offense.
As a result, Chicago moved on from Olsen in the summer of 2011 and acquired a third-round pick from the Carolina Panthers.
And the Panthers unlocked an All-Pro…
…Chicago later packaged the third-rounder to add receiver Brandon Marshall, so the transaction wasn’t a total loss. However, the Bears could have added him alongside Olsen.”
It was a perfect example of the system wrongly overshadowing talent.
Mike Martz was a capable offensive coordinator for a long time. However, he never truly grasped that a huge part of his success came from having Hall of Fame talent to work with. Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk, Tory Holt, and Orlando Pace. An embarrassment of riches. They made that scheme unstoppable. It isn’t a coincidence that once he no longer had them, Martz suddenly found it tougher to score points.
A smart coach would recognize the value of talent even if it’s at a position he hasn’t historically utilized much. In fact, Martz did exactly that in the division playoffs against Seattle. Olsen had three catches for 113 yards and a touchdown in a Bears 35-24 runaway victory. How the coach didn’t recognize the value of the tight end at that point remains a mystery. Just a couple of months later, Olsen was gone.
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Greg Olsen in Chicago just wasn’t meant to be
GM Jerry Angelo got it right drafting him in 2007. He could’ve and should’ve been the primary target for Jay Cutler moving forward. The two likely would’ve enjoyed a fruitful partnership together through the mid-2010s. Angelo just lacked the ability to recognize offensive talent. It was his Achilles heel during his long run in Chicago. If he’d had any common sense, he would’ve told Martz no way on that trade and to find a way to make it work.
One could argue trading Greg Olsen was what ultimately got him fired. Angelo lasted just one more season following that decision. No doubt it’s one of several he’d like to have back. In the end, it seems like Olsen and Chicago were never supposed to be a thing. When he tried to return in 2020 as a free agent, the current Bears regime opted to sign Jimmy Graham instead.
This despite having a productive meeting.
Even so, Olsen doesn’t hold a grudge. He even took time to tutor new Bears tight end Cole Kmet at the new Tight End University summit put together by him, George Kittle, and Travis Kelce. A reminder that Olsen remains a total class act even to this day.
