Former ESPN and NBC Sports commentator Dan Patrick dropped a bit of a bombshell a couple of days ago. He said on his radio show that the Chicago Bears were one of the final suitors in play to land future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. Something that flew in the face of the narrative that competition for Mitch Trubisky was always their primary plan for this 2020 season.
It turns out Patrick’s source was right on the money. On Sunday Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirmed the information and even added some extra details. It seems the Bears were quite serious about the idea of signing Brady. They talked about him internally several times. They even made an offer.
The 43-year old quarterback wasn’t opposed to the idea either. So why didn’t the Bears seal the deal? A rather simple reason it turns out.
“As Brady’s Bucs are set to debut in New Orleans, one of the teams that made a run at Brady is his opponent today — the Saints. Another team that made an under-the-radar offer was Chicago.
Both teams held multiple conversations about Brady and both at one point were in the running. As it turns out, Brady’s market was more robust than previously thought…
…While there was a lot to like, Brady didn’t warm to the idea of playing in the cold again, leaving the Chargers and Bucs as the finalists.”
Age finally showed itself with Tom Brady
Brady spent his entire NFL career on the east coach in New England. A place notorious for it’s colder temperatures and heavy snowfalls in the winter. Something he had to experience every year deep trips into the playoffs. While the man has defied age for such a long time, that decision is confirmation that he isn’t a spring chicken anymore. It’s well-known the cold seems to affect older athletes significantly more than younger ones.
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Chicago wasn’t going to offer any reprieve from that.
It would be interesting to hear exactly what Brady liked about Chicago. One can only speculate. Maybe the idea of playing across from an elite defense. Having a true go-to receiver in Allen Robinson. Taking over a quarterback-friendly offense under a coach players love in Matt Nagy. Perhaps someday he’ll offer some insight on that.