Stats Since 2000: Chicago Bears
Winning Seasons: 7
Playoff Appearances: 6
Playoff Record: 3-6
Championships: 0
Jay Cutler. Sid Luckman. Jim Harbaugh. Jim McMahon. Mitch Trubisky. What do all these men have in common? These are the Top 5 Quarterbacks in the history of the Chicago Bears (in terms of passing yards). A solid starter, a man who has not played since 1950, two journeymen, and a draft-day bust. This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the problems and struggles of the Bears.
Welcome to “A Series of Inept Franchises.” In this series, well, it’s in the title… I will break down one franchise in the four major American sports a week and take a quick yet deep dive into why a franchise has so many problems. For the interest of time and not to bore you with deep history and lore, I will only be diving into a franchise’s history since 2000. It’s been 24 years since then, trust me, there’s plenty of history already for teams in this near quarter century.
Warning, this series may contain swearing and yelling at your favorite teams from you, the reader. Upon reading this, you may become mad, you may cry, you may want to throw up, and you may want to yell at God. Reader discretion is advised. Sounds good? Good.
For this first instance, I’ll dive into the team that inspired this series: The Chicago Bears.
Let’s get into what I feel have been the three major areas of concern for the Bears: Quarterbacks, Drafting, and Coaching.
Quarterbacks
Dear Lord, where to start? Since 2000, the Bears have had only one real franchise QB, Jay Cutler. Justin Fields could be that guy, but it’s currently up in the air to see what the Bears do with him before the NFL Draft.
Personally, I think he gets traded. The list, however, of starting QBs for the Bears is harmful to the eyes and ears when you first see and hear it. Jim Miller, Kyle Orton, and Matt Barkley are just a few of the QBs.
Did you know Kordell Stewart started 7 games for the Bears in 2003? I didn’t.
God, that’s a cursed image.
Even when the Bears did get someone of relevance, it never worked out. Chris Chandler and Nick Foles were both Super Bowl QBs, and Foles was a Super Bowl MVP. They went a combined 8-13 in those games started. Brian Griese was in a Super Bowl… as John Elway’s backup. He went 3-3.
Also on the list are Shane Matthews, Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel, and Todd Collins. Who are these people? You could have told me that the Bears had fans put their names in a hat and picked one to be QB for a day. I’d believe you if you told me that.
I have yet to mention the draft busts. This entire list is just gross. Rex Grossman that is… bad joke; moving on.
Cade McNown: Round 1, Pick 12. Jimmy Clausen: Round 2, Pick 48. Mitch Trubisky: Round 1, Pick 2. All these guys were highly regarded coming out of college. All these guys went a combined 32-34 starting for the Bears.
To be fair, the Bears didn’t draft Clausen, but never forget that Mel Kiper Jr. said he would retire if Jimmy Clausen didn’t have a successful NFL career within 8 years. Clausen lasted 2 years in this great league and finished his career with the Bears, who, for some reason, decided to take a chance on him after he went 1-9 in Carolina. Thus, he stays on this list of Draft Busts employed by Chicago. Oh, hey, look at that, a perfect segway.
Drafting
The Bears started the new century with an absolute bang. By nabbing Brian Urlacher in the first round of the 2000 NFL Draft, the Bears solidified themselves as having a solid defense with the future Hall of Famer. Since then, it has been all downhill.
Cade McNown is a draft bust, as mentioned earlier. Yes, I know he was drafted in 1999, but he started more games in 2000 than in 1999. Plus, it’s my blog, I make the rules. Cade went 2-4 as a rookie starter in 1999. Okay, that’s expected from a young rookie. He’ll progress the following season. He didn’t. He regressed. He regressed so badly that he was out of the NFL after the year 2000 and never played another snap. He finished his Bears and NFL career with a 3-12 record, 3,111 passing yards, 16 TDs, and 19 INTs.
The years after were no better. WR David Terrell spent 4 years with the team (R1 P8). OT Marc Colombo, 4 years (R1, P29). DE Michael Haynes, 3 years (R1, P14). RB Cedric Benson, 3 years (R1, P4). LB Shea McClellin, 4 years (R1, P19). WR Kevin White, 4 years (R1, P7). Do you see a pattern here? None of these guys made it past their rookie contract with the team.
Whether it was injuries, a player not wanting to be in Chicago, or lack of success, this century of drafting by the Bears has just been god awful, especially at the QB spot.
Since 2000, the Bears have drafted 3 QBs in the first round. Rex Grossman (‘ 06), Mitch Trubisky (‘ 17) and Justin Fields (‘ 21). The jury is still out on Fields, but we’ll wait and see. Grossman and Trubisky, on the other hand, weren’t good. Scratch that. They were just awful.
Grossman was drafted in 2003, first round, pick 22. What notable names were taken after him that the Bears could have used? I’m glad you asked. Nnamdi Asomugha, Anquan Boldin, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Witten, Asante Samuel, and Robert Mathis. Any of these would have been better than Grossman. It makes it even worse that if the Bears had just waited for a season, they could have ended up with Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, or Ben Roethlisberger in the 2004 draft. Side note: I will give the Bears some credit here because, in 2003, they did draft Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs, two players who would be essential on that 2006 Super Bowl team. Oh, and speaking of that…
Grossman got to a Super Bowl, but the defense and a future Hall of Famer named Devin Hester carried him and the Bears’ offense to that Super Bowl. Grossman proved to be no match against the Colts defense that day.
He finished the game with 165 passing yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, and 2 Fumbles. If he had won, he would be up there with Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson as guys who would be answers to a Super Bowl question on Jeopardy. And, speaking of Jeopardy questions, I’ll take the 2017 NFL Draft for $200, please.
These 2 players were the next 2 QBs taken after the Bears took Mitch Trubisky with the 2nd Pick overall. Who is Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson? Correct. That’s pretty much all you need to know about the Bears blunder right there.
However, if you thought it couldn’t get worse, well, it gets much worse. If you take a really good look at the players that were all taken after Trubisky, well, it’s astounding. Even more astounding is the fact that the Bears could have taken some of these guys in later rounds but chose not to. Those players are Jamal Adams, Christian McCaffrey, Marshon Lattimore, Marlon Humphrey, Evan Engram, Tre’Davious White, David Njoku, TJ Watt, (taking a deep breath because this list is LONG) Budda Baker, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Cooper Kupp, Chris Godwin, Trey Hendrickson, James Connor, George Kittle, Matt Milano and Aaron Jones.
Any one of these guys could have changed the Bears fortunes for the better and been a face of the franchise. Especially Mr. 3x Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes. But it’s one thing to draft guys who play well. It’s another thing to coach them. And when it comes to that… well, the Bears haven’t been great this century.
Coaching
The Bears have had 6 Head Coaches since 2000. Dick Jauron gets grandfathered in since he started in 1999. He only lasted until 2003 after going 35-45 and having only one winning season, a true Haley’s Comet type of year in 2001, going 13-3. Chicago then went and gave the reigns to Lovie Smith, which turns out was maybe the only good thing the Bears have done this century. Smith went 81-63, reaching two NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl. His only downfall is probably the fact that he made the playoffs only 3 times in his 8-year tenure as Head Coach. From there, we have Marc Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy, and Matt Eberflus… they have gone for a combined 71-108 since 2013, have made the playoffs only twice, and have had only one winning season. A full 10 years of just absolute slop for the most part.
There’s not much to say here other than the coaching sucks, which is a show of how bad the General Managers the Bears have employed have been. They’ve had 4 General Managers since 2000, all of whom have made terrible drafting decisions, terrible QB decisions, and terrible head coaching decisions. It’s all but a guarantee that this QB decision that current GM Ryan Poles has in front of him will determine whether he stays or gets canned like his predecessors. Should we keep Justin Fields or draft Caleb Williams? Knowing the Bears, Poles will trade away Fields and draft Drake Maye instead of Williams, thus keeping the cycle of ineptitude alive in Chicago.
And there you have it, the ineptitude of the Chicago Bears since 2000. I do feel bad for Bears fans. They deserve more. Being the oldest franchise in the league and having minimal success in the Super Bowl era has got to sting as much as a cold plunge into Lake Michigan in the middle of January. It’s not like Bears fans have much to do during that month anyway. I kid, I kid.
I want to see the Bears succeed. Bill Murray wants it. Barack Obama wants it. Big Cat wants it. The city of Chicago wants it. But, in the back of my head, every time I think they’ll turn a corner, a quote from the late great Dennis Green comes back into my mind, “The Bears are who we thought they were.”
