The Bears Reportedly Told Patrick Mahomes He Was Their Top QB Before Drafting Mitch Trubisky

Bears fans have for years now been tired of hearing about the fact that Ryan Pace not only drafted Mitchell Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, but traded up to so. It’s going to be a conversation that will be had for decades.

Kalyn Kahler, in an exhaustive story about this decision for Bleacher Report, writes that the Bears actually told Mahomes during the Draft process that he was their top QB pick:

To pile on to the draft regret, league sources say that sometime in early March of that year, the Bears told Mahomes that he was their top quarterback in the class, and gave Mahomes the strong presumption they would take him. This further explains why Mahomes counted to 10 on his fingers after passing for a touchdown at Soldier Field last season. “10” for his draft position, a message to the team who passed on their “top quarterback.” The Bears’ interest in Mahomes was real, but the conversation with Mahomes that he was their top QB may have been a smokescreen to throw people off the scent of their actual top quarterback. 

Of course Mahomes has a chip on his shoulder about this whole thing; how, as a hyper-competitive person, could he not? Nonetheless, he should be counting his blessings every day that he went to work for Andy Reid instead of a Bears organization that has not had an elite quarterback in his lifetime.

With quarterbacks, we tend to overrate individual responsibility for success and underrate the importance of coaching and the overall franchise. There’s no way to run an alternate universe experiment. But, if there were, I’d bet a considerable amount of money that Mahomes would not have wound up being as good on the Bears as he is on the Chiefs.