The Bears traded away edge rusher Robert Quinn and linebacker Roquan Smith ahead of the trade deadline last year and their 1-5 start to this season has led to thoughts of more trades before the October 31 deadline this year.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson was on 670 The Score this week and said he’s “not oblivious” to the fact that being in the final year of his contract makes him a possible trade target for other teams. Johnson said he wants to stay in Chicago, but “the Bears got to do what’s best for them and I got to do what’s best for me.”
Safety Jaquan Brisker made an appearance on the same station and said he hopes the Bears find the best thing for them is to hold onto what they have. He called players like Johnson and safety Eddie Jackson the “heart and soul” of the Bears and said the team shouldn’t be in a hurry to send them away.
“Even back in the day, you see guys like Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, those guys stayed with the Bears forever,” Brisker said. “You got to pay those guys the same dues with these guys too. I feel like we got to go back to the old generation where we have loyalty to the players, we keep players on the same team.”
The Bears were infrequent visitors to the playoffs when they had those players, but they did make it to a Super Bowl on one of those trips and there’s been little sign that this group of Bears has that kind of future. That makes it harder to argue staying the course even if there are doubts that the current decision makers will be able to build the kind of consistent winner that’s been missing in Chicago for a while.