Chicago Bears: Cincinnati Bengals can learn from their draft history

The Chicago Bears haven’t handled the first round of the NFL Draft well in recent years so this year’s top five can learn a lot from their mistakes.

The Chicago Bears are elite at missing in the first round of the NFL Draft. They didn’t have one in 2019 and they might have hit on Roquan Smith in 2018, but the jury is still out. In the years proceeding that, things were rough for them in the early rounds. Things are at an ultimate low when you think of the 2017 Draft. They traded up to take Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick while Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were available.

With the 2020 edition of the NFL Draft coming up on Thursday night, there are plenty of teams looking to make a dramatic impact on their franchise. The Cincinnati Bengals are slated to make the first overall pick. They, along with all of the teams in the top five of the draft, can learn from the recent mistakes made by the Chicago Bears.

There are some very good players available to those top five teams this year. Joe Burrow rose to the top with his Heisman Trophy-winning season for LSU. Tua Tagovailoa went into the season as the likely number one overall pick as he entered this season with Alabama but an injury made his stock fall. Now, Cincinnati is expected to take a quarterback and it is going to be Burrow in all likelihood.

That is where they can learn from the Bears, however. If they think Tua is healthy and more talented they should take him. If Burrow turns out to be a below-average NFL QB while Tua emerges as a superstar, that is going to hurt the Bengals for a long time. They can’t just go with what the public wants or believes.

The Bears should have ignored the noise and selected Mahomes in 2017. In fact, people ripped on Kansas City for trading up to get him while Watson was still on the board and look at how that is working out for them. People might shred a team if the took Tua over Burrow but there is a legit chance he turns out to be better.

There is also Chase Young from Ohio State University. He is by far the best player in the draft. An edge rusher just doesn’t have the same value in the minds of NFL executives but taking Chase Young might be something that Cincinnati should consider. They aren’t going to be good in 2020 regardless of who they take so Trevor Lawrence could be someone they get in next year’s draft to be their quarterback.

Young falling to the Washington Redskins at pick two could really be a steal for them. You’re not supposed to get the best player in the draft at pick two but here we are. The purpose of bringing this up is because the Bears have made a lot of similar mistakes over the years. These teams can learn from them.