{"numbering":"no_numbering","slides":[{"index":"","title":"Tom Brady was the instant fix the Bears crave","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/chicago/2021/02/08/BRADY_TOM_BEARS_USATSI_15039910_168392290_lowres.jpg","caption":"

A year ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a team stuck in the middle. They were coming off a 7-9 record in Bruce Arians’ first season as head coach and they were ready to unload the failing quarterback they drafted No. 1 overall in 2015.

Jameis Winston wasn’t awful, but he was flawed. Bucs general manager Jason Licht knew they needed to upgrade at the position.

And Licht was entering a crucial offseason. Six years into his tenure as GM, he had undoubtedly upgraded the talent on his roster, but he failed to find a true franchise quarterback. That had to change in Year 7.

Sound familiar?

Bears general manager Ryan Pace sits in a very similar seat today as he heads into his seventh season as GM. He has a roster stuck in the middle – there’s talent, but not a quarterback capable of leading that talent to a Super Bowl.

Licht unstuck the Bucs by acquiring Tom Brady, a move that also could have unstuck the Bears if Brady had more interesting in moving to Chicago. Bears head coach Matt Nagy often uses the word “multiplier” to describe players like Brady. It’s what Khalil Mack is supposed to be, and what Brady undoubtedly is – he not only makes the players around him better, but he also improves the team by literally adding more talent to the roster.

Consider that in Sunday’s 31-9 Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs, all four of the Bucs’ touchdowns were scored by players (Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette) who were not on Tampa’s roster at this time last year.

So can Pace and Nagy find a quarterback multiplier this offseason that lifts the Bears to the Super Bowl in a year’s time? The only move that would come close to acquiring Brady would be a trade for Deshaun Watson and it’s still not known whether the Houston Texans will actually make their quarterback available. Brady arrived to Tampa as a free agent, so the Bucs didn't have to give up multiple years worth of draft capital to acquire him, but the instant impact he had on the Tampa Bay organization shows why a bold move for Watson would be warranted for a team like the Bears.

And if Watson isn’t available, well…

","credit":"USA Today"},{"index":"1","title":"Carson Wentz is probably not that multiplier","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/chicago/2021/02/08/App-210207-Carson-Wentz-trade.jpg","caption":"

The situation in Philadelphia in 2020 was the complete opposite as Tampa Bay. As Brady brought the Buccaneers together, the Eagles completely fell apart, leading Doug Pederson to be fired just three years after winning a Super Bowl.

How much blame Carson Wentz deserves for the fire in Philly is unclear, but there sure is a lot of smoke around the quarterback. Questions about Wentz’s leadership go back to this story from Jan. 2019 and many others have followed.

There’s somewhat of a Jay Cutler vibe to the Wentz situation in that there seems to be divide in the Eagles’ locker room when it comes to the quarterback. Cutler always had teammates willing to go to bat for him – as Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox recently did for Wentz – but he was never able to unify the locker room. The same storylines have followed Wentz around during his career, even though he is regarded as a hard worker and competitive player.

In that sense, it seems hard to believe that Wentz would make everyone around him better in Chicago. He almost certainly would be an upgrade at quarterback – as Cutler undoubtedly was too – but as the Bears learned, there’s a difference between having a talented quarterback and having a winning quarterback.

Is Wentz worth a shot for a third-round draft pick, especially if the Eagles – desperate to get out of his contract – are willing to eat some of the money? Sure. But the reported asking price that includes a first-round pick is ridiculous. The Eagles can’t possibly expect to receive that in return.

","credit":"USA Today"},{"index":2,"title":"What about Derek Carr?","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/article/hero/Carr_D_USATSI_15363385.jpg","caption":"

The reality is that short of Deshaun Watson, there are likely no Tom Brady-like Hail Marys that will lead to a Bears Super Bowl a year from now. But that doesn’t mean the Bears should be content to just run it back with Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles on the cheap.

Frankly, Pace and Nagy can’t afford to do that, which is why they won’t.

Derek Carr is an interesting option because he would come cheaper (about $19.6 million for each of the next two seasons) with none of the money guaranteed. The Bears could either keep the contract as is with very little risk, or rework it with some sort of extension to bring the cap hit for 2021 even lower, increasing roster flexibility.

The means Carr would likely command more in a trade, however. He’ll be 30 in 2021, but he wouldn’t come with the same baggage as Wentz and he’s thrown for over 4,000 yards in each of the last three seasons, something that has never happened in the history of the Chicago Bears. A Wentz reclamation project might come with a higher ceiling, but Carr has a higher floor and is a steady presence who has only missed two games in his seven-year career.

Of course, it’s not a guarantee that Carr is on the market, but if the Eagles are asking the Bears to overpay for Wentz, I’d turn my attention to Las Vegas and see if Carr is available instead.

In this copycat league, the Bears are among many teams looking at the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and wondering how they can make a similar leap. They are even one of the few teams that can say they are in a similar position as the Bucs were a year ago. But that doesn't mean they can realistically make a move on par with signing Tom Brady. And trading for Carson Wentz seems more like a last resort rather than a move you jump to make in early February.

","credit":"USA Today"}]}

Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson trades: What Bears can learn from Tom Brady, Bucs