Oh God, The Horror of Your Twaddle!
Oh God, The Horror of Your Twaddle!
Old, Young, Whatever. Let’s Get Funky
May 28, 2021
The Thing That Won’t Happen and Probably Shouldn’t
In a blockbuster move, the Chicago Bears announced today they have traded their newly-acquired first round pick, quarterback Justin Fields, to the Green Bay Packers for Pro Bowl quarterback and future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers.
Wow. What a lie. But what if?
Anyone who pays attention to football knows Rodgers wants out of Green Bay and can you blame him? After all, all the Packers do is play in front of some of the most devoted fans in the NFL, make the playoffs every year, and enjoy wine, women, and song from Kenosha to Peshtigo.
But after falling short two straight years in the NFC Championship game – a thing the Bears love to watch on TV – Mr. Rodgers is tired of his neighborhood and wants to take his helmet, beard, and rifle arm elsewhere.
If Tom Brady can leave the Patriots and the Redskins can drop their name, can’t Rodgers take a walk?
The Packers would never, ever, schmever trade Rodgers to their rivals, the Bears. But what if the Bears had something really fun to offer? Something the Bears have not had in their coffers since before the Internet: A good, young, healthy, potentially great quarterback.
If you ran the Packers would you trade Rodgers to the Bears for Justin Fields? Heck no, because if you’re the Packers you already have Jordan Love, a quarterback they drafted just last year, a move that, despite his denials, has to be part of why Rodgers is so eager to bug out.
But let’s keep talking.
What if the Bears offered Fields, and a first round pick? Do you think the Packers would be able to handle having two potentially great young QBs on their roster, plus an extra first round pick?
Perhaps the Bears would send Fields, a first rounder and a second rounder. Sound better? Maybe the Packers decide to get rid of their unhappy old quarterback, get a second young QB, more picks (and the Packers tend to be good at drafting) decide who’s better, Love or Fields, (surely at least one of them will be very good) then trade the other guy for even more picks and hey, Green Bay, you’re set at QB for another dozen years and can probably pencil yourself in for nine or ten more playoff appearances before the year 2030 by which time Rodgers will be on a golf course with Phil Mickelson.
No, no, no. It just doesn’t make sense if you’re wearing green and gold.
But hey, Bears, keep talking. What else do you have? Justin Fields, a first rounder, a second rounder, linebacker Khalil Mack, and wide receiver Allen Robinson? For a 37-year-old quarterback?
Would the Bears make that move? In today’s NFL in which quarterbacks are safer than ever and play longer than ever and offense is more important than ever do the Bears mortgage the future for possibly three more great seasons from Aaron Rodgers? The Bears are usually good enough on defense. They have some promising offensive weapons besides Robinson and it’s not one bit unstable or unseemly to think they could make a Super Bowl run or two with a pushing-40 Aaron Rodgers calling signals at Soldier Field.
Justin Fields, as said earlier, will be much better than Rodgers five years from now. So will Jordan Love. But Bears fans would give Fields, Mack, the lakefront, and their grandmother’s soul for a Super Bowl ring. And they would do it again to win two.
How would the Bears look if they pulled off such a silly, unreasonable transaction and then Rodgers gets hurt? Or the Bears, some shock, cannot put up a good enough team around him? The answer is the Bears would look quite intensely stupid, shortsighted gullible, and what-not.
But those who make the bad deal would soon be gone and the colossal failure of dumping Dua Lipa for Cher would still give Bears fans what they really want even more than a Super Bowl ring. It would give them something to talk about. --TK
Wednesday, June 2, 2021