Chicago Bears: Why Zach Wilson could be their future quarterback

The Chicago Bears should have their sights firmly on the BYU quarterback.

The last time the Chicago Bears selected a headband-sporting quarterback out of Brigham Young University, it turned out pretty well for them. Jim McMahon would go on to lead the Bears to their only Super Bowl victory. Could they go back to the well and select BYU’s Zach Wilson as their quarterback of the future? That option should certainly be on the table.

It appears, absent extenuating circumstances, that the Mitchell Trubisky era is over in Chicago. The former No. 2 overall pick in 2017 simply has not lived up to expectations, and the Bears made the decision to move on to veteran Nick Foles to finish up the season and potentially bridge the gap to the team’s next quarterback, who presumably will be selected in April’s 2021 draft.

With just about a quarter of the season behind us, it is still difficult to project where the Bears might be drafting next year. However, with a 4-1 record, absent a monumental collapse, they are unlikely to have a shot at the current consensus top three quarterbacks (Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Trey Lance).

Consequently, absent a trade up, they will be looking at the mid to late first-round or even the second round to target their guy. So it is there we begin our analysis with Wilson who has been rocketing up draft boards after an incredibly impressive start to the 2020 season.

We were fortunate enough to catch up with former BYU quarterback from 2009-12 and current BYU radio broadcast analyst Riley Nelson who provided us his unique perspective of Wilson. However, before we get to his thoughts, let’s take a look at Wilson’s eye-popping start.