National media outlet says Chicago Bears have the most foolish first-round draft decision of all time
Pro Football Network recently ranked the top 10 most foolish first-round draft decisions in NFL history and the Chicago Bears had the misfortune of coming in at No. 1 on their list. The Bears' disastrous first-round decision they're referencing is the Mitch Trubisky trade in 2017. Chicago traded the No. 3 overall pick, a third-round pick, […]
Pro Football Network recently ranked the top 10 most foolish first-round draft decisions in NFL history and the Chicago Bears had the misfortune of coming in at No. 1 on their list.
The Bears' disastrous first-round decision they're referencing is the Mitch Trubisky trade in 2017.
Chicago traded the No. 3 overall pick, a third-round pick, one of their fourth-round picks, and a 2018 third-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers to move up one spot to select Trubisky.
The Bears infamously selected Trubisky over other options like Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes.
From Pro Football Network:
With the San Francisco 49ers holding the second overall pick, the Chicago Bears got antsy at No. 3 and decided to move up the board. The Bears gave the 49ers third- and fourth-round picks to move up one spot and select QB Mitchell Trubisky.
While the Bears did the right thing by going after their guy, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson remained on the board. Mahomes fell to No. 10, and the Chiefs traded up with the Buffalo Bills to nab him.
Mahomes is a Super Bowl winner and a former league MVP who is seen as the best player in the sport. Trubisky recently signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his third team in three years. Ryan Pace, the Bears GM who made the Trubisky move, is no longer in charge.
It's easy to look back at this decision and question it. But at the time, a lot of analysts felt like Trubisky was the safest pick in the draft.
Just take a look at what Pro Football Focus said about Trubisky in early 2017:
Shows all of the tools to develop into a very solid NFL starting quarterback and appears to be the safest option of the 2017 quarterback draft class.
No one was predicting that Mahomes was going to be a future NFL MVP. Everyone knew he had potential, but there were a lot of questions about his unorthodox throwing style and if playing in the Air Raid offensive system in college would translate to the NFL.
So yes, in retrospect, this was an awful decision by the Bears and former general manager Ryan Pace.
But at the time, the decision was viewed as a team simply doing what it had to do to land a potential franchise quarterback. We've seen far worse decisions, this one just sticks out because of Mahomes and what could've been in Chicago.
Featured image via Chicago Tribune
