Trading multiple first-round picks for a player like Khalil Mack is never a bad idea, until it kind of is.
This isn't to say the Bears shouldn't have pulled the trigger on the deal with the Raiders that brought Mack to Chicago prior to the 2018 season. It was a franchise-changing move that sparked a ridiculously positive 12-4 season and restored Super Bowl expectations for a city that's been in hibernation since the prime years of Brian Urlacher.
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Then came the regression of 2019. The team slipped back to a .500 club and Mack had what could be considered his worst season since his rookie year. To make matters worse, the Bears are still paying the price for Mack: they're without a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, marking their second-straight draft class devoid of a top-32 selection.
General manager Ryan Pace will begin the offseason with seven picks: 43, 50, 142, 146, 177, 181 and 211 overall. The Bears are expected to add a fourth-rounder, too, as a compensatory selection after losing safety Adrian Amos in free agency last year.
It isn't the most impressive draft-class-to-be. In fact, in a recent breakdown of every team's 2020 draft capital, the Bears rank 28th.
It's going to be really difficult, if not impossible, for Pace to do much damage with his arsenal of selections. Sure, he can package the 43rd and 50th picks along with a future selection to move back into the bottom of the first round (maybe!), but he won't have the ammunition needed to make an aggressive move into the early portion of Round 1.
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Fortunately for the Bears, their biggest need -- an alternative to Mitch Trubisky -- can be solved via free agency. Several veteran starters with varying degrees of success will hit the open market in March and they can free themselves from quarterback desperation on draft weekend, if Pace does the right thing and adds a free agent who can compete with Trubisky for the starting job in 2020.
He'd be even wiser to add one of the younger free-agent options like Teddy Bridgewater who can serve not only as an answer in 2020, but for the long-term as well.
Traditional draft theory suggests that championship rosters are built through the middle rounds. The Bears will have plenty of picks to fill out a roster that isn't that far from Super Bowl contention as it is. But fans who are hoping for a massive impact player coming from this year's draft class need to temper expectations just a bit.
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