The Penalty Box: Colts And Bears Might Need Each Other
January 25, 2023 at 3:35 a.m.
The Penalty Box: Colts And Bears Might Need Each Other
By Roger Grossman-
The pain was finally ending.
As those wounds slowly heal, the pain turns to hope—a hope that this year’s misfortune and failures will lead to better players and better results in the not-so-distant future.
And because both the Bears and Colts were terrible in 2022, they both are drafting very high. The Bears lucked into the top pick, and the Colts will choose fifth.
Or will they?
The whistles ending the final plays of their seasons were still echoing in the stadiums when the speculation started about what the Bears were going to do with the first choice in the draft.
They had, and still have, two options: they can keep the pick and use it to draft the player they like the most or they can trade the pick to a team who wants to move up to the first pick.
Why would they give up the best player in the draft?
Because the value of having the first pick on your plate is that you can either choose whoever you want, or you can trade that pick to whoever is willing to trade into the position to pick whoever they want.
More often than not, the teams with the top five draft picks are looking for a quarterback.
The Colts sure are, but they pick at number 5. That means they could fall in love with a quarterback coming out of college but they can’t be guaranteed their guy won’t be loved by someone who picks before them.
And, while Justin Fields is still very much a work-in-progress, the Bears seem ready and willing to proceed for the next two years with Fields as their leader.
The Bears aren’t looking for a quarterback, but the teams below them on the draft board are. That means the receptionist at Halas Hall has been forwarding phone calls to the general manager’s office from teams inquiring what it would take to acquire the number one overall pick.
Why would the Bears choose the Colts to consider trading with?
It wouldn’t just be swapping the top pick for the fifth. Whoever moves up to the Bears pick would be giving up multiple picks and maybe some good players on their roster to get there. The Colts are running a little thin on picks since they gave some away already to get Matt Ryan, so a combination of picks and players makes the most sense.
And the Colts have some defensive players that could help rebuild the Bears defense.
The Bears would certainly get the Colts pick at number 5, and they would likely have their unchallenged choice to select the best non-quarterback of the litter.
See, that number one pick is the key to launch the complete 180-dregree turn from bottom-feeder to competitive in the span of a few weeks, and that applies to both Indy and Chicago.
That’s pretty inviting, isn’t it?
Add to that the fact that no one in the league has more money to spend in free agency than the Bears do, and things look very positive for the future of the NFL team that calls Chicago home.
The only thing that could mess this up is that we are talking about the Chicago Bears.
This is the organization that was so desperate to get their “quarterback of the future” that they gave up picks to move up to get Mitchell Trubisky at number 2 overall in 2017. History tells us that the Bears could have stayed right where they were and still got Mitch, who six years later is fighting to keep the candle of his career lit in Pittsburgh.
The Bears are trying to knuckle-under someone just like they were then.
And they are in a position to do exactly that…which is what makes all Bears fans incredibly nervous.
Other teams will no doubt craft plans and packages of picks and players to woo the Bears.
But in the end the only trade partner that makes sense for the Bears to work with is the one right down I-65.
And if they do this well, both the Bears and Colts are about to use each other to get a lot better.
We all will sign up for that.
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The pain was finally ending.
As those wounds slowly heal, the pain turns to hope—a hope that this year’s misfortune and failures will lead to better players and better results in the not-so-distant future.
And because both the Bears and Colts were terrible in 2022, they both are drafting very high. The Bears lucked into the top pick, and the Colts will choose fifth.
Or will they?
The whistles ending the final plays of their seasons were still echoing in the stadiums when the speculation started about what the Bears were going to do with the first choice in the draft.
They had, and still have, two options: they can keep the pick and use it to draft the player they like the most or they can trade the pick to a team who wants to move up to the first pick.
Why would they give up the best player in the draft?
Because the value of having the first pick on your plate is that you can either choose whoever you want, or you can trade that pick to whoever is willing to trade into the position to pick whoever they want.
More often than not, the teams with the top five draft picks are looking for a quarterback.
The Colts sure are, but they pick at number 5. That means they could fall in love with a quarterback coming out of college but they can’t be guaranteed their guy won’t be loved by someone who picks before them.
And, while Justin Fields is still very much a work-in-progress, the Bears seem ready and willing to proceed for the next two years with Fields as their leader.
The Bears aren’t looking for a quarterback, but the teams below them on the draft board are. That means the receptionist at Halas Hall has been forwarding phone calls to the general manager’s office from teams inquiring what it would take to acquire the number one overall pick.
Why would the Bears choose the Colts to consider trading with?
It wouldn’t just be swapping the top pick for the fifth. Whoever moves up to the Bears pick would be giving up multiple picks and maybe some good players on their roster to get there. The Colts are running a little thin on picks since they gave some away already to get Matt Ryan, so a combination of picks and players makes the most sense.
And the Colts have some defensive players that could help rebuild the Bears defense.
The Bears would certainly get the Colts pick at number 5, and they would likely have their unchallenged choice to select the best non-quarterback of the litter.
See, that number one pick is the key to launch the complete 180-dregree turn from bottom-feeder to competitive in the span of a few weeks, and that applies to both Indy and Chicago.
That’s pretty inviting, isn’t it?
Add to that the fact that no one in the league has more money to spend in free agency than the Bears do, and things look very positive for the future of the NFL team that calls Chicago home.
The only thing that could mess this up is that we are talking about the Chicago Bears.
This is the organization that was so desperate to get their “quarterback of the future” that they gave up picks to move up to get Mitchell Trubisky at number 2 overall in 2017. History tells us that the Bears could have stayed right where they were and still got Mitch, who six years later is fighting to keep the candle of his career lit in Pittsburgh.
The Bears are trying to knuckle-under someone just like they were then.
And they are in a position to do exactly that…which is what makes all Bears fans incredibly nervous.
Other teams will no doubt craft plans and packages of picks and players to woo the Bears.
But in the end the only trade partner that makes sense for the Bears to work with is the one right down I-65.
And if they do this well, both the Bears and Colts are about to use each other to get a lot better.
We all will sign up for that.
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