The Chicago Bears are likely to make some tweaks to their offensive depth chart in 2020. That is easy to understand when a unit ranks 28th in the NFL with two games to play. One area people are anxious to see some changes is at quarterback. The odds of moving on from Mitch Trubisky are remote. He’s played better in the second half of this season and will still be on a cheap year of his rookie contract. The team still believes in him too.
No, the changes would come at the backup spots. It’s a prime opportunity to maybe bring in some potential competition for the young quarterback. See what happens when a little more pressure is put on. Timing is perfect too since both Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray will be free agents. The question becomes who will the Bears bring in if that’s the plan? Will they make a legitimate push to sign a top guy available or will they seek a cheaper solution who has credible starting experience?
Given the Bears’ lack of salary cap wiggle room going into the offseason, it’s fair to lean towards the latter. A veteran who won’t be too expensive but can still offer a challenge. There will be a couple of them on the market come March. One of them continues to have the strangest and most exhilarating career of any journeyman in NFL history. His name is Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick is what the Chicago Bears need
Nobody is going to say that a soon-to-be 38-year old quarterback is a solution for the Bears quarterback problem. What he would be is something a little more sensible: a threat. Trubisky has no reason to fear Daniel as a backup because Daniel has no credibility as a starter. This would not be the case if Fitzpatrick came to town. He has now started 138 games in his NFL career with a rather respectable 84.0 passer rating in his last five seasons. His work in 2019 though is deserving of special praise.
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The man took over a Miami Dolphins team that was predicted by many to go winless this year. After a difficult start when he took over for Josh Rosen, Fitzpatrick has found his groove. Since Week 9, the quarterback has 1,883 yards with 10 TD passes, five interceptions, and two TD runs. The Dolphins are 3-4 in that stretch. At the time of writing this, he’d thrown another two touchdowns against Cincinnati. The guy is clearly still capable of playing good football.
That level of credibility would change the entire dynamic of the Bears’ quarterback room. Trubisky will suddenly know that the coaches won’t be as reserved about making a change if he struggles because they’ll know they have a guy they can trust behind him.
