Over the past 48 hours, we have seen numerous reports about the Bears having interest in QB Carson Wentz. From the naked eye this may seem confusing because Wentz is coming off the worst year of his career and probably one of the worst years in recent memory for a QB, especially for the QBs held to the standard that he was once held to.
Wentz threw 15 interceptions, leading the league in that category, and fumbled 10 times in only 12 games. Wentz is currently riding a 4-year, $128 million contract, a hefty contract to take on, and yet he is still fielding interest from other NFL teams. How is this possible?
The fact that he is currently drawing interest is not surprising to me at all. Wentz is one of the most talented QBs in the whole league. He stands at 6’5, has a great arm, and has some of the best play extending capabilities in the NFL. To top it all off, he even almost won the MVP back in 2017, where his legendary season was cut short due to a truly unfortunate ACL tear vs the Rams.
Wentz tore his ACL while diving for the goal line on a play that didn’t matter due to a holding call on tackle Lane Johnson. Despite this season ending and career altering injury, Carson Wentz would still finish the drive with a touchdown pass that would give the lead back to Philadelphia at 30-28 over the 9-3 Rams in one of the biggest games of the year.
What went wrong? After coming back from injury in 2018, Wentz would regain the starting job from Nick Foles in Week 3 of the regular season, after Foles had just won the Super Bowl in his absence in 2017. This Super Bowl win would cast a shadow over Philadelphia, as the Wentz vs Foles dilemma would become a common debate over the years to come.
Wentz’s bad luck would strike again as he was ruled out for the remainder of the 2018 season following a loss to Dallas, which looked to be the end of their season. As legend would tell, Nick Foles would strike again, leading the Eagles to three straight wins and sneaking them into the playoffs for the second straight season after another tragic Wentz injury.
Foles’ postseason run would end due to an Alshon Jeffery drop deep in New Orleans’ territory with less than 2 minutes left in the game and only down 6. However, the Foles-Wentz debate would end in the spring of 2019 when Foles would walk in free agency to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carson would receive his well deserved extension, making him the fourth-highest paid QB at the time.
For once the future looked certain as the the Eagles had ditched their “side girl” in Nick Foles for their star QB Carson Wentz. Wentz would lead the Eagles to yet another division title. With an injury riddled team, Wentz managed to throw for 4000 yards, 27 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions, despite only having a combined 900 yards from his top two wide receivers.
Once again Wentz’s bad luck would strike, but this time in the playoffs, after Jadeveon Clowney nose dived onto Wentz’s head while he was down. This hit would knock Wentz out for the remainder of the game and the Eagles would fall short by 8 points. In the offseason of 2020, the Eagles shocked the world by passing on eventual Rookie of the Year candidate Justin Jefferson and current Bengals WR Tee Higgins by taking Jalen Reagor out of TCU. They compounded it by taking a QB in round 2 with Jalen Hurts despite paying Wentz just one year prior.
So, how do the Bears fit into this? After trying out the Mitchell Trubisky experiment for four years, the Bears are finally looking to move on. They are currently sitting with the 20th overall pick in the draft after losing in the first round of the playoffs and putting up a whopping 9 points, 6 of them coming in garbage time. The Bears are looking for a franchise QB—to no surprise—and are looking down every nook and cranny to do so.
After missing out and reportedly showing interest in the Matthew Stafford sweepstakes, the Bears have been linked to QBs Jameis Winston and Carson Wentz, as well as star QB Deshaun Watson. The question that fans are asking themselves are why this Wentz guy, who has a large contract and was most likely the worst QB in the league last year?
The only thing that makes sense to me is that with the 20th pick the Bears don’t think that they can get a QB that they feel comfortable with, as the top five QBs in the draft—Jones, Lance, Wilson, Fields, and Lawrence— will all be out of reach. This looks like the Bears are feeling more confident in investing in someone who has played at the NFL level and someone who has proven success over someone that could be available at 20.
I’m sure the Bears are banking on Wentz working hard to return to his once elite level, because he has all the talent to do so, and even the work ethic. If you’re a fan of the NFL, Wentz’s talent should be familiar to you. Wentz runs like Russell Wilson, has a huge arm, and a nose for making highlight plays with his play extending abilities. Not only do I think this makes sense from the talent perspective but it also makes sense because Carson Wentz is the ultimate team player and hard worker, with sports media stars such as Colin Cowherd always preaching about his heart and passion to never give up.
Carson Wentz is an overwhelmingly talented QB with tons of passion and the Bears should be looking to relight that fire under Wentz. Wentz gave his all to the city of Philadelphia and they repaid him by keeping Foles around and drafting a QB after making him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. Philadelphia pushed him and pushed him to his limits by giving him no weapons and by constantly jeopardizing his job by bringing in QBs who are real threats.
Wentz simply just cracked and the whole world was there to see it. Hopefully a change of scenery in one of the most beautiful and sports heavy cities, Chicago, can help Wentz return to his MVP form. This wouldn’t be the first time we have seen someone leave Philly and further their career after it looked all but over. Raiders receiver Nelson Agholor recently asserted himself as a staple of the Raiders offense after being thrown out of Philly and ridiculed by the internet by for his drops.
