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Chicago Bears: Keeping an Open Mind About Mike Glennon

By Dan Schmelzer

Sep 3, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon (8) drops back to pass during the first half against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 3, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon (8) drops back to pass during the first half against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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Keeping an open mind about the Chicago Bears signing free agent quarterback Mike Glennon.

As you know by now, the Chicago Bears have come to an agreement with free agent quarterback Mike Glennon. The deal is for three-years, at about $14.5 million per season with $19 million guaranteed. Glennon will be the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears in 2017.

I am not a huge fan of this move for the Bears. Glennon has a nice arm, but he is inaccurate, has no mobility and checks down far too often. He put up decent numbers as a starter in 2013 and 2014 (59% completion percentage for 4,025 yards, 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions), but he did not look like a high-level NFL quarterback.

Glennon appeared afraid to throw the ball down the field and struggled mightily with pressure in his face. With a perfectly clean pocket, Glennon was okay. However, as soon as he saw any sign of pressure, he would simply check it down.

That being said, I am going to take a positive approach here. Ryan Pace is not a dummy. He must see something in Glennon that most of us are not understanding.

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I will say this much about Glennon’s game, his arm is legitimate. If he gets time to operate, Glennon can rip it. His throws usually lack accuracy, but they will get there in a hurry. If Glennon can learn to trust his arm, he could have some success.

I do not think Glennon was the right choice for the Bears, but signing him did allow them to move on from Jay Cutler. Moving on from the Cutler era is a big step in the right direction for the Bears. We know what this team can accomplish with Jay Cutler as their starting quarterback and it was typically not pretty.

At least with Glennon, there is an unknown. He will probably not be much better under center for the Bears than Cutler was, but we just do not know that for sure. There is at least some semblance of upside here.

I can make sense of the Bears signing Glennon if they take a quarterback with the third overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. This is reportedly still an option. Landing either Deshaun Watson or Mitchell Trubisky would be a fantastic step in the right direction for this franchise. Having Glennon in the mix would allow the Bears to bring their rookie franchise quarterback along slowly.

The $19 million in guaranteed money likely means that the Bears could move on from Glennon prior to the 2018 season without too much of a cap hit. If Watson or Trubisky hit, the Bears and Glennon could part ways next off season, making him simply a one-year stop-gap.

No matter how you look at it, I do not like the Bears signing Mike Glennon. I simply do not think he is a very good NFL quarterback. However, it probably is not as bad of a move as I originally thought. As long as he is only a quick one or two-year stop-gap, signing Glennon is not going to be a franchise crippling move.

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That being said, if Ryan Pace and company look at him as their franchise quarterback, and think that they can ignore the position in the draft, we have a problem. But the Chicago Bears aren’t that dumb, are they?

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