The Quarterback For the Bears in 2017 Should be... Matt Barkley?!?!
- Dec 16, 2016
- 3 min read
Now, I'm sure you read the title and did a backflip that would score 10/10 at a gymnastics meet. You must be thinking- "this guy is f***ing nuts". Fair enough I am, but I'm also gonna tell you why this would make total sense for Chicago's long term plans though.
The Jay Cutler era in Chicago has been nothing short of a disaster. From lack of motivation to well.. being Jay Cutler, Bears fans haven't ever been happy with him since acquiring him from the Broncos. The often maligned quarterback missed time with injury this year and came back to.. lose his starting job to both of his backups. Brian Hoyer was the second string quarterback, so he played before Barkley but he also went down with injury for the year.
Barkley in his time as Chicago's starting quarterback has looked.. competent. I didn't think I'd ever use that phrase to describe Matt Barkley, but he has been just that. His stats might not indicate that as he's only completing 51% of his passes to go with 3 touchdowns and 4 picks, but some of that can be contributed to how bad the offense is as a whole outside of Jordan Howard. Matt Barkley has kept the Bears in games, since becoming the starter. In their last 2 losses the Bears haven't lost by more than 6, and the Tennessee game would've been a win had Josh Bellamy hung on and made an easy go ahead touchdown catch.
I get it. Why would any franchise willingly let Matt freaking Barkley be their starting quarterback barring disaster? He's been a tire fire since leaving USC, and got traded away to make roster space for Tim Tebow who's currently saving fans from seizures with the power of prayer:
Chicago isn't going to be contending for a Super Bowl anytime soon, unless they sign Tim Tebow to be their lead pastor so why not give the USC product a chance?
The Bears have talent on the roster, but it's also a mess. Cutler is going to be gone by next season, and it'll mean that they'll obviously be in the market for a quarterback. The most likely scenario in which they get one is through the draft this year. They shouldn't do that though. The roster has holes all over the defense, and 2017 is a star studded defensive draft. The most pressing need would be a corner, and their are plenty in this year's draft. I don't even know who plays corner for Chicago outside of Kyle Fuller or Cre'von Leblanc ( I only know who Leblanc is since he got cut by the Patriots during the pre-season). Safety is also a huge question mark. Actually it would be pretty safe to say that the secondary as a whole is the immediate concern at hand.
Instead of drafting a quarterback with a top 5 pick, Chicago could get a game changer on defense. Let Matt Barkley be Matt Barkley for a year. Why the hell not? There's absolutely nothing to lose. Worst case scenario is that he's the worst quarterback in the league and Chicago ends up with another top 5 pick. The quarterback class next year is much better anyway, so it'd be a better idea to take one next year. Chicago could really bolster it's defense in a loaded draft, and build a defense that could help ease along whoever they draft next year.
The Bears are in a pretty brutal division right now as the NFC North is looking like one of the better divisions in football, and if they have long term aspirations of winning, letting Matt Barkley be the quarterback for next year would serve their best interests. Barkley is a free agent this offseason, so the Bears could just give him a 1 year prove it deal. It wouldn't cost the Bears much, and allow them to take talent at spots on the defense rather than taking a risk on a quarterback. Matt Barkley has looked surprisingly competent this year, and he deserves a chance. Do I think he's NFL starting level? No. But who the hell knows. One day he could wake up and play like Joe Montana. Barkley deserves a shot, and the Bears have nothing to lose.. well except for the fact that Matt Barkley once did this:
Comments