The Chicago Bears had a chance to add a fresh flavor to their stale quarterback room this weekend but it looks like they passed. Word spread quickly that Colin Kaepernick, the exiled 32-year old who once led the 49ers to a Super Bowl in 2012, held a public workout on Saturday as an audition for NFL teams. It was hoped that every team in the league would send a representative to watch in person. However, various circumstances made that impossible.
According to Vaugh McClure of ESPN, Kaepernick decided to change venues for where he would hold the workout. Originally it was supposed to be at the Atlanta Falcons stadium. However, the NFL was unwilling to make the workout available to the media, so he and his representatives decided to do it at a nearby high school instead. While this allowed for video to come out from the action, it also meant that several teams did not attend.
However, the Bears seemed to still find time to send a representative.
Chicago Bears may never have attended
While it’s now clear the Bears did attend the actual workout, nobody can say for certain what their intentions are. Since the Kaepernick situation was made known to the public, the Bears were never once mentioned among the teams that were interested in any way. This doesn’t automatically mean they aren’t interested but it certainly sends that sort of message. This would be confusing at the very least given the issues they have at quarterback with Mitch Trubisky.
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Then again this is a team that has dodged media attention whenever possible. Their culture is built around not having any one player be a lightning rod for controversy. Like it or not, that is what Kaepernick is. His national anthem protests and subsequent exile from the league have made him a magnet for the cameras. If the Bears were to sign him, it wouldn’t just bring his baggage into their situation, it would also create an instant quarterback controversy on top of it.
GM Ryan Pace doesn’t seem ready to make that sort of commitment. Not with all he’s invested in Trubisky.
