When Russell Wilson‘s agent named Chicago as an acceptable trade destination in 2021, the Bears sprang into action. They made what was labeled at the time as a “very aggressive” offer for the perennial Pro Bowler. More details on that proposal have since emerged.
Then-Bears GM Ryan Pace is believed to have offered three first-rounders, a third and veteran players for Wilson in March 2021, Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. At the time, Wilson had listed the Bears, Cowboys, Saints and Raiders as teams for whom he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause. While the Broncos were subsequently added to his list, they were not part of the original group.
At this point, the Seahawks were not prepared to trade their franchise quarterback. John Schneider took the offer to Pete Carroll, who determined he did not want to trade Wilson, Finley adds. It is not known which players the Bears were prepared to deal away in 2021, which ended up being Pace’s final year on the job in Chicago.
This was one of the original Wilson what-ifs. The Commanders offered three firsts for Wilson in 2022, beating the Broncos in terms of Round 1 choices included, but he would not waive his no-trade clause for Washington. The Eagles and Browns also pursued the potential Hall of Famer in 2022, but Wilson determined Denver would be the best fit.
The Seahawks turned down the offer in March 2021, leading the Bears to the draft. Pace initially sent the terms to Schneider at Trey Lance‘s pro day in Fargo. A month later, the Bears then vaulted up to No. 11, (via the Giants) to nab Justin Fields. While the Fields-Bears fit has proven rocky, the Ohio State product’s run-game brilliance in 2022 notwithstanding, Chicago did not have to give up what it would have cost to pry Wilson from Seattle.
A year after this offer did not move the needle for the Seahawks, they engaged the Broncos on a swap that came to pass in March 2022. The Seahawks then received a stunning season from three-year Wilson backup Geno Smith and have him signed to a team-friendly deal, which becomes a pay-as-you-go accord following this season.
The Bears, of course, signed off on a similar trade in 2009. They sent the Broncos two first-rounders, a third and Kyle Orton for Jay Cutler in April 2009, with that swap coming weeks after a Cutler-Josh McDaniels feud developed. Cutler ended up setting franchise records for QB starts, passing yards and touchdowns but only piloted Chicago to one playoff berth in his eight-year run. The Bears have struggled to replace the strong-armed passer, who had arrived in Chicago ahead of his age-26 season. Mitch Trubisky bombed, and Fields enters Week 4’s Broncos matchup with the NFL’s lowest QBR.
Wilson has not lived up to the Broncos’ investment, and the decision by management to authorize a five-year, $245MM extension — featuring $124MM fully guaranteed — before seeing how the trade acquisition fit with Nathaniel Hackett has hurt the organization. After the Hackett fit proved disastrous, Wilson has shown better form with Sean Payton. Of course, the Broncos join the Bears at 0-3, thanks largely to a suddenly leaky defense. Wilson, 34, will attempt to continue his progression in Payton’s offense, but his long-term future in Denver is far from certain.
Bears takin L’s they didn’t even earn
Slow news day
Sounds exactly like something stupid Pace would do. I believe it.
exactly . at least we dodged this bullet. imagine watching this terrible team we have with a struggling Wilson and no draft picks.
The embarrassment just keeps getting bigger.
link to bearswire.usatoday.com
Ouch. Wilson has looked the definition of wildly inconsistent this year (at one time hitting a beautiful deep ball, and the next audibling into a throw to the tooth fairy), and chances are that he wouldn’t have been much better in Chicago. Granted, he wouldn’t have been subject to the Hackett disaster, but he would have likely been much more expensive than he would have been worth. The only real question that I have is what the difference would have been in terms of overall production between him and Fields.
On Seattle’s end, it seems like a huge miss. Denver have them a good deal, but it was not as good as this. Plus, for as bad as Denver has been, the Broncos haven’t been as bad as the Bears, and as such those picks would be worth more. This was the better trade for Seattle, and Wilson may have been happier.
The Bears might have been better on the field, but it still would have not been worth it. Those picks only turned into two players-Justin Fields and Darnell Wright (who does look promising as a rookie so far). I don’t know which third round pick was offered, so that one’s hard to nail down. I doubt that the Bears would have been necessarily happy with the huge contract and draft capitol given up, but they probably would have been marginally better on offense starting Wilson in lieu of Fields. It possibly could have been better than what they ended up doing in the end, but I doubt that the trade would have been worth it for them. It’d have a final parting gift from Pace to an already abused fanbase. Seattle would have loved it; Chicago, not so much.
AK185 – Wilson would have been the same disaster in Chicago that he has been in Denver. Chicago dodged a bullet when the Seahawks turned them down.
Those following trades for veteran QB’s should be looking closely at the odds of getting more than a decent season or two out of someone else’s thirty-three+ Pro Bowler.
Thank heavens Wilson himself nixed a trade to the Redskins/Commies.
Maybe, but I don’t think that it would have reached the depths that it did in Denver. Hackett was so epically unsuited for coaching Wilson in any imaginable way that I don’t believe that that ineptitude could be replicated. Denver had a talented roster, especially in comparison to Chicago, but the sheer and gross lack of organization and accountability for Wilson in Denver was astonishing. Hackett had no control over him on the field, which was evident in how many times Wilson changed the play (usually to a deep pass that fell ten feet away from the nearest, possibly intended, receiver).
Hackett’s scheme was not even a good fit, as Hackett’s West Coast styled zone run was too wide open and didn’t run the ball enough to get the defense into enough one-on-ones for Wilson’s receivers, which he is used to. That was evident as well from how balls he forced into coverage-he was used to hitting receivers after strong runs softened up coverage. It just wasn’t suited, and when it went wrong, Hackett was far too demure to fix any of it. Wilson looked lost, the offense looked lost, and the product was the worst offense that I personally have any memory of seeing live (especially with the rules being what they are today). It was that bad. So, yes, I do think that Wilson would probably have been unimpressive in Chicago. But I don’t think that any coach would have screwed up as badly as Hackett did to make it worse in Denver.
Who do you think is going to win the game Sunday, Den or Bears? I’m going w/ Den. At least their O can move the ball some. Neither team can play D.
Denver needs it quite badly, and despite the embarrassment last week, they have a stronger coaching staff and better roster. I don’t exactly believe in their defense (in my mind it started slipping even before the Chubb trade talent-wise, but Evero instilled great identity that fed off the Fangio years), but this is really also an indictment on Chicago. I have no idea what is going in Chicago right now, and I don’t think the players seem to, either. When it comes to coaches getting their teams ready to break a losing streak in desperation time, it’s hard to go with a team that’s had as much turmoil as Chicago has coaching-wise, even without considering possible talent disparities. But you never know-Denver’s locker room is hanging by a thread. Both teams will be pretty susceptible to momentum swings on big plays. If one teams build enough of it, they could coast to victory.
It’ll take much more than one game to get Wilson into a sustainable rhythm, however, on Denver’s end. He looks like he’s lost a lot of his comfortability in the last year. And I don’t know where Denver’s edge pressure is going to come from in clutch time. So this game might be a get tight game for the Broncos, but it’ll take more than this to get them on track. As for Chicago…I think that we’ll see a brand new team next year. I think that the players know that much, as well.
And there bears would have still sucked
Old news bro! Let’s burn one for Russ.
Russ is done in Denver either way. Where he land next year? Commanders? Falcons? Jets?
I don’t know if he ends up going to any of those spots. Denver can’t get out of his deal until 2026 at the earliest, which would result still in a $34 million hit in dead money. 2027 has a much more manageable $12 million hit.
If Denver did manage to get out, those spots are still iffy. Washington seems to believe in giving Howell a legitimate shot, despite last week’s bad outing. He’s had good moments to add to that, so I think that, unless Howell completely craters, he will be going into next year as the starter for Washington. Atlanta has decided the same for Ridder, but they seem like they’ve been planning for that to be the case for longer than Washington has. Neither player has been bad, but neither has been spectacular either, so until the needle moves in either direction, they’re still firmly in the “give them time to grow” categories. They’ve had good moments and bad, and they both looked like rookie/young players, as expected. So I think that they’re still getting a couple of years to prove themselves at the moment.
The Jets just went all out to acquire a veteran starter (ironically the one who should have gone to Denver), so I doubt that they repeat a similar experiment, especially for a player who is further removed from his best than Rodgers was at the time of the potential trade.
It’s hard to predict, to be honest, what market would exist for Wilson, either hypothetically now or realistically in a couple of years when Denver can cut him. Right now, unfortunately, the Broncos are stuck with hoping that he (and a couple of other signings-looking at Randy Gregory and Frank Clark, here) can live up to his deal and improve for the foreseeable future.
Howell has shown enough to be given a two-year run as the starter, with breaks when he’s banged up. Some QB’s do get better with game opportunities. Howell looks like one of them.
Some get worse (Zach Wilson, Nathan Peterman, Johnny Football).
Maybe you’re right. Also Vikings if they move off cousins. Maybe even a trade
I suspect that many teams made an offer once Seattle indicated they were willing to trade Wilson. After all, Miami once gave the Cardinals 2 draft picks for Josh Rosen.
Call the Bears back n see if they’ll offer 7th rnd pick 4Wilson today. Tell em his poor play was cause of altitude sickness n he’ll be his ol self @sea level.
A one for one trade Wilson for Wilson?
Give both Broncos and Jets a chance to strike it lucky, their seasons couldn’t go any worse.
we can all breathe a sigh of relief that they drafted Justin Fields instead…….