Everybody knows the Chicago Bears screwed up horrendously in the 2017 NFL Draft, but their fans need to let the Patrick Mahomes thing go and just move on.
Ryan Pace made a huge mistake.
Not only did the Chicago Bears general manager trade up in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Mitchell Trubisky out of North Carolina, but Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes became a superstar with the Kansas City Chiefs eight picks later. The same is true of Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, going to the Houston Texans at No. 12.
Mahomes is on his way to becoming the best NFL quarterback of his generation. Additionally,Clemson coach Dabo Swinney wasn’t kidding when he said passing on his quarterback was like passing on Michael Jordan.
Still, it’s done. The Bears’ fanbase needs to move on.
Even if the Bears drafted Mahomes, which nobody expected at the time, would he have been this type of player for the Monsters of the Midway? Though Mahomes has the best right arm in football, he landed in the perfect situation like Kansas City and play for an incredible offensive mind as his head coach in Andy Reid.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the answer is. The Bears didn’t draft Mahomes. They took Trubisky. They have to live with the choice.
Hell, other teams atop that draft made huge mistakes, too. Though they’re only three years into their NFL careers, five of the top-10 picks from that draft haven’t reached a Pro Bowl yet including San Francisco 49ers defensive end Solomon Thomas (No. 3) and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver John Ross (No. 9).
At least Trubisky made a Pro Bowl one time in 2018. It’s not as though the Bears drafted Paxton Lynch, Jake Locker or Christian Ponder, guys we knew couldn’t play in this league. Trubisky can play some, but can’t carry an offense because he’s limited.
The Bears have Trubisky. The Chiefs have Mahomes. It’s time Chicago fans move on and start thinking about how the team can win going forward.