10 Bears Who Won't Return Next Season
By Thomas Erbe
2. Darnell Mooney
Going into the 2022 season, it was known Fields would be the quarterback of the Bears. His top wide receiver going into the year was Darnell Mooney. Hope and expectations were high for the duo to become one of the best tandems in Bears' history, but that never came to light.
Mooney was drafted out of Tulane in the fifth round of the 2020 draft by the Bears. He played in all 16 games that year and scored four touchdowns for a team that just squeaked into the playoffs. After Fields took over as the starter in 2021, he exploded onto the scene with him, tallying over 1,000 receiving yards on the year.
His career projection was heading in a direction the Bears had not seen before at the wide receiver position. Paired with where we all thought Fields was going, Mooney was set to become the Bears' all-time leading receiver, along with Fields being the all-time leader in passing.
But reality struck and Mooney tallied less than 1,000 yards in his next two seasons combined. Combined with the trade for DJ Moore and the offense leaning on the run more so than the pass, Mooney became obsolete on a team with no direction.
Mooney is an elusive receiver with plenty of talent to be a Pro Bowl-caliber player. There will be a team out there that can use his skill set properly to make him a valuable asset. But the Bears are not that for him.