Chicago Bears: Why the Bears should avoid Teddy Bridgewater

With the Chicago Bears looking to add to the quarterback room this offseason, why should they avoid Teddy Bridgewater?

This offseason, if there is a position that many are expecting the Chicago Bears to make a move at, it’s quarterback. And one name that many seem to have their eyes on is Teddy Bridgewater. For a lot of reasons, Bridgewater seems like the perfect guy to come in and push Mitchell Trubisky.

At just 27 years old, there’s no doubt that some team views Bridgewater as a future starter. However, he’s reportedly set to receive a multi-year deal that could see him earn up to $30 million dollars a year.

Yet the best case scenario for general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy is to avoid Bridgewater altogether. While some will argue that Bridgewater was an ascending quarterback in the NFL just five years ago, he’s never been the same player after his gruesome knee injury which he sustained in 2016.

In the hypothetical scenario where the Bears do sign Bridgewater, they’d be signing a boom-or-bust free agent. Paying big money to a guy who hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2015 is the biggest example of that.

Another area of concern regarding Bridgewater is when he was with the New York Jets briefly in 2018 and he was unable to beat out then-rookie quarterback Sam Darnold for the starting job. Some will argue that the Jets opted to go with Darnold since he was the future of the franchise however Bridgewater had more experience even if he was a stopgap quarterback.

Since his knee injury in 2016, Bridgewater has started just six games with five of them being in 2019. Even during his five starts in 2019, his numbers weren’t all that great but they were certainly better than Trubisky’s.

During his five starts in 2019, Bridgewater would post nine touchdowns, two interceptions, and have a quarterback rating of 99.1 along with 1384 yards. These numbers may jump off the screen to some but it is worth noting that he was surrounded by playmakers at nearly every position, some of which included guys like Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara.

The question now needs to be asked: Was Bridgewater merely a product of the scheme he played in and the talent that he was surrounded by or was he legitimately good enough to carry the Saints when Drew Brees went down?

Wherever Bridgewater is playing next season, there’s no guarantee he’s able to replicate the success he had in 2019. And for the Bears, it’s better that they stay away from him and just hope that Trubisky can turn things around.