Matt Barkley played a surprisingly big role in the Bears' 2016 season, but it sounds like he won't be playing any role at all in the 2017 season.
According to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the former USC Trojan is headed to the West Coast and the San Francisco 49ers.
Barkley had 1,611 yards in seven games in 2016. He had eight touchdowns, 14 interceptions and completed 59.7 percent of his passes (129 for 216), but just a 1-6 record in those games. Barkley had a respectable start with four touchdowns and four interceptions in his first four games, but threw 10 picks in his final three starts.
Joining Barkley in San Francisco will be another former Bear quarterback in Brian Hoyer. It had already been reported that Hoyer would head to the 49ers and now Barkley is going to be teammates with Hoyer once again.
Perhaps San Francisco will reunite the 2016 Bears quarterback corps and bring in recently released Jay Cutler as well. Wouldn't that be something?