The list of possible veteran quarterbacks the Chicago Bears could target in 2020 free agency is larger than usual. In addition to the usual journeyman types like Case Keenum, there will be a number of possible aging former stars such as Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and even Tom Brady. Then there will be the former 1st round picks who haven’t quite lived up to the hype. This crowd involves Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.
Mariota might be the most interesting of that group. He was benched midway through this past season in favor of Ryan Tannehill who proceeded to take the Tennessee Titans into the playoffs. Mariota’s run with the team is one long story of sadness, plagued with multiple coaching changes, inadequate offensive weapons and a general lack of direction. By the time the team started to get good, it was too late.
Now Mariota will be searching for a new opportunity elsewhere this March. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, one executive believes Chicago makes all the sense in the world for him.
“I could see Chicago [for Mariota],” one exec said. “Ryan Pace wants to stick with Mitch [Trubisky], and this way Mariota can start games but isn’t a total replacement, leaving room for Trubisky to regain his confidence and play well.”
Marcus Mariota to the Bears is quite a debate
Make no mistake. The idea of Mariota coming to the Bears has been discussed at length and a lot of people are on the fence about it. Why would the team want to bring in a guy with a lot of the same concerns as Mitch Trubisky? Well, the price will certainly be appealing. Mariota will be cheap to get in comparison to other options. He might even take a discount if he feels he’s getting a legitimate shot to compete for the starting job.
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The Bears do run an offensive system that is similar to what made him a success in college with lots of spread concepts and run-pass option. There is also the fact that Pace was enamored with Mariota back in 2015, sending out feelers to trade up to get him in the 1st round. Ultimately it didn’t happen. This would give the GM a second chance to do what he wanted to all those years ago.
On the flip side, it’s important to note that Trubisky and Mariota share the same agent. So both of them competing for the same job on the same roster would be a conflict of interest. So there is an argument for both sides. Mariota has a career 89.6 passer rating in 63 games. This with four different offensive coordinators and three different head coaches. Have we seen the real quarterback or somebody who’s been clearly mismanaged?
Maybe that is what the Bears will want to find out.
