If you don't want to hear anymore about the 2017 draft, move on.

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Don't forget the implied racism.

 

[Bearly]

If Watson wasn't an injury risk, I would be more critical. But he tore an ACL in college. Several teams passed him up.

Watson had legitimate concerns. Injury alone likely took him off several teams radar.

People keep pointing to 2017. It's not like Mahomes and Watson peeled off at picks #3 and #4. They went at #10 and #12. It was an exceptionally odd year were 2 widely under-rated prospects really took off. There is context here that people in hindsight are conveniently overlooking.

An acl that he fully recovered from, won a title with and passed all physicals with is not going to take him off any board. Could drop him a bit but nobody considering a QB put a big red X on him.

 

[Bearly]

Don't forget the implied racism.

Implied? I saw torches and sickles.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

If Watson wasn't an injury risk, I would be more critical. But he tore an ACL in college. Several teams passed him up.

Watson had legitimate concerns. Injury alone likely took him off several teams radar.

I think that's overblown. He was (arguably) the most important person on Clemson's campus. He was a 19 year old kid who received better doctors and trainers for rehab than any of us here would probably get. Plus, it's not like this happened in 1995.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Implied? I saw torches and sickles.

Mike Glennon, Mitch, Chase Daniel, Tyler Bray, Nick Foles vs. Teddy, Dak, Mahomes, Watson, and (I suppose) Winston.

I'm just saying: it's worth noting.

 

[SD Bears Fan]

If Watson wasn't an injury risk, I would be more critical. But he tore an ACL in college. Several teams passed him up.

Watson had legitimate concerns. Injury alone likely took him off several teams radar.

People keep pointing to 2017. It's not like Mahomes and Watson peeled off at picks #3 and #4. They went at #10 and #12. It was an exceptionally odd year were 2 widely under-rated prospects really took off. There is context here that people in hindsight are conveniently overlooking.

I can't speak for everybody else, but I wanted Watson at #3. Thought we were taking him when we moved up to #2.

He was going to be a star and it was easy to see. He beat Alabama once and almost did it twice. Alabama is as close to NFL competition that Watson faced in college and he was great.

Passing on Mahomes isn't a big deal. Nobody was talking about him.

 

[SD Bears Fan]

Mike Glennon, Mitch, Chase Daniel, Tyler Bray, Nick Foles vs. Teddy, Dak, Mahomes, Watson, and (I suppose) Winston.

I'm just saying: it's worth noting.

Only by idiots looking to start trouble. Do you have any evidence of racism by Pace?

 

[mattb78]

He went 12th overall. That's a mid first round selection. Watson was not a prospect that only Pace missed on, but several other GMs as well. That is all I am saying.

23 teams passed on Aaron Rogers and 31 teams passed on Drew Brees.

Its a hard mistake to forgive. Especially when you think about what we could have had at QB. But at the time, the consensus was that Watson came with questions.

 

[tgmxd]

He was going to be a star and it was easy to see. He beat Alabama once and almost did it twice. Alabama is as close to NFL competition that Watson faced in college and he was great.

This is a narrative for Watson I'll never understand. It was not ever obvious or a sure thing he was going to be a star. He never would have fallen to #12 if this was true because if he was a sure fire star at the most important position in football teams would have moved heaven and earth to trade up for him.

Beating Alabama isn't some barometer for being a star in the NFL or else guys like Cardale Jones, Chad Kelly, Tebow, and Johnny Manziel should be getting sized for their hall of fame jackets right now.

 

[SD Bears Fan]

He went 12th overall. That's a mid first round selection. Watson was not a prospect that only Pace missed on, but several other GMs as well. That is all I am saying.

23 teams passed on Aaron Rogers and 31 teams passed on Drew Brees.

Its a hard mistake to forgive. Especially when you think about what we could have had at QB. But at the time, the consensus was that Watson came with questions.

I understand your point.

I guess my point is don't these GMs watch actual games? Sometimes they outthink themselves and don't factor in what the athlete has accomplished and who they did it against.

Injury concerns aside, Watson was clearly a better qb than Mitch.

 

[SD Bears Fan]

This is a narrative for Watson I'll never understand. It was not ever obvious or a sure thing he was going to be a star. He never would have fallen to #12 if this was true because if he was a sure fire star at the most important position in football teams would have moved heaven and earth to trade up for him.

Beating Alabama isn't some barometer for being a star in the NFL or else guys like Cardale Jones, Chad Kelly, Tebow, and Johnny Manziel should be getting sized for their hall of fame jackets right now.

Beating Alabama doesn't equal success in the NFL, but Watson played well against them on the biggest stage. The moment wasn't too big. Factor that in with his success in other college games and you just had to know he was at the very least a way better player than mitch. Sometimes GMs find reasons to talk themselves into and out of drafting certain players.

 

[tgmxd]

Beating Alabama doesn't equal success in the NFL, but Watson played well against them on the biggest stage. The moment wasn't too big. Factor that in with his success in other college games and you just had to know he was at the very least a way better player than mitch. Sometimes GMs find reasons to talk themselves into and out of drafting certain players.

Playing big in big games is definitely a plus and should absolutely be factored in when they grade a player.

The point I'm making is about the lazy narrative since the draft that just because Watson beat Alabama that every team knew he was a sure-fire franchise QB from a lot of people in hindsight which is wrong and revisionist history.

There's a long list of those guys who seem like "sure fire" stars to the average fan who get to the nfl and suck.

 

[Bearly]

I understand your point.

I guess my point is don't these GMs watch actual games? Sometimes they outthink themselves and don't factor in what the athlete has accomplished and who they did it against.

Injury concerns aside, Watson was clearly a better qb than Mitch.

Why I posted the 2nd article. The was clearly not the consensus.

 

[Wild_x_Card]

Watsons college injury history was of legitimate concern. The same knee twice.

 

[mattb78]

Injury concerns aside, Watson was clearly a better qb than Mitch.

Close call. Watson's last season was 40 TDs and 17 INTs for a 151 QBR.
Trubisky was 30 TDs with 6 INTs for a 157 QBR. And he was throwing to absolutely nobody talented.

I don't know WTF happened to Mitch in the pros. He just lost all feeling for the deep ball. That I will never understand. He clearly didn't have the NFL processing speed. Right now he is sitting at a career 86.1 QBR. Maybe he will get to better coaching, a real system, and get closer to a 90 career QBR.

 

[hckypro19ja]

Couldn't. Beat. Out. Marquise. Williams.

Enough said.

Well, more to say. That loser went 8-5 in the powerhouse ACC his ONLY year of starting. He didn't beat anybody good. Only the Bears could do what they did.

Questions aside, Watson was a pure winner. Beat Alabama. Almost did it twice! He last year at Clemson wasn't his best, but it was clear he was a winner and had more raw ability than mitch.

I also watch a lot of ACC football and mitch in his best days at UNC never looked like Watson.

While I completely agree with you that Watson was clearly the better college QB, both QBs have damn near an identical win/loss NFL record. Watson is 28-21 in gs and Trubisky is 26-20. Both teams sharing an equal amount of talent/lack of talent on both sides of the ball, and obviously both players having the downside of shitty coaches. I dont know that we would be any better off with Watson over Trubisky at this stage in the game.

 

[Mdbearz]

At the end of the day I don't blame the Bears for not bringing in Watson if they had Trubisky and Mahomes both so clearly ahead of him (with real questions about his play and injury history at that point) and thinking at pick #3 worst case scenario they were going to get one of them with the Browns going Miles Garrett at #1.

If they had them even close though it's a huge mistake not at least bringing him in.

I'll always wonder though if the decision to go Trubisky over Mahomes had anything to do with the Bears organization being too scared to bring in another gunslinger at QB and sell it to fans after all those years of Cutler.

If it was a tie and it did go to Trubisky over that and Pace seeing Drew Brees in Trubisky... that's the only thing that would make this sting even more.

I think there is no doubt that they were gun shy about getting a gun slinger. Cutler screwed us for 8 years and left such a bad taste in the organization mouth, that they wanted the opposite of Cutler and Trubisky was it.

Watson did it all well in college, played at the highest level, won a championship, was a leader on his team, did well at the combine....BUT he was considered reckless at times and they thought he was Cutler all over again.....

THIS is the reason that I hope we get a new GM, that does not have a history with the Bears so he can evaluate the talent available and not have previous history influence his decision.

 

[Bearly]

The team immediately fucked with his motion when all they had to do was to tell him to keep his feet under him. Not saying he would have succeeded if they didn't but I never understood drafting someone and then 'fixing' him. I think some of that is on Pace as well. He wanted to sit him for a year to have him acclimate and get tweaked. He ended up having to play and working on his delivery etc while starting, 4 weeks into his rebuild. You could see him consciously pitter pattering his feet etc. Either play him and leave him alone and wait until the offseason or work with him on the scout team.

Everyone was talking about his great feet before the draft and I called them lazy in the pocket. Nothing enough wrong with the rest to start fucking with and his feet weren't that huge of a deal either. He was used to throwing without his feet in the best positions. It's what you drafted and I was fine with that beyond a simple reminder so he could acclimate at his own pace. Rodgers does it all the time. Even under Fox, they never let the kid just play. Mitch is not ethereal but I suspect that whatever intuition he had, got fucked over.

 

[PrimeTime]

One of the local beat writers brought up an interesting point about Pace. The only GM he worked under in the NFL was Mickey Loomis. In all his years with the Saints, Loomis never drafted a QB that ever amounted to anything. The 2 main QB's for the Saints under Loomis were Brees and Brooks and they were both acquired by the Saints as free agents or through trades. It's one thing to scout a current NFL QB and project his future in the NFL. It's another thing to scout a college player and project what he'll do in the NFL. Obviously Loomis was not good at scouting college QB's and Pace has followed in the footsteps of his mentor.

 

[Anytime23]

Only took 15 seconds before my article limit ran out haha