People talk about Ryan Pace and his bad eye for quarterbacks these days. Rest assured, he is not the first Chicago Bears GM who had a major problem at that position. Mark Hatley would like a word. The man who ran the Bears from 1997 to 2000 has an even worse track record. He inexplicably traded a 1st round pick to Seattle for bust Rick Mirer. Then in 1999, he sealed his own fate when he drafted UCLA passer Cade McNown 12th overall.
The left-handed kid from California lasted two seasons in the NFL, battled injuries throughout and looked generally awful when he was on the field. He is unquestionably one of the biggest busts in Bears history. The pick by itself was bad. Yet fans might not believe how it eventually came about.
Bob McGinn of The Athletic recently did a tremendous piece on the famous trade made by the New Orleans Saints to acquire Ricky Williams. One that involved their entire draft. The Washington Redskins were the team that ended up making that deal. Their GM Charley Casserly though needed a way back into the top 10 after the deal. So he called Chicago.
The rest? Well, let him tell it.
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Casserly wanted cornerback Champ Bailey but knew he couldn’t get him at No. 12. Then he discovered the Bears would be willing to deal their selection at No. 7 to Washington, but only if McNown would be there for them at No. 12.
“I convinced them that Cade McNown would be there,” Casserly said on NFL Network in 2018. “That’s a one in a million shot on that trade now.”
Cade McNown sequence set Bears back years
So not only were the Bears locked in on McNown, which was bad enough. They basically took the word of another GM who had no reason to tell them the truth before moving back. That is world-class naivete. To say nothing of the fact that move led to them giving up a Hall of Fame cornerback and eventually losing out on a better quarterback in Daunte Culpepper who went 11th overall to the Vikings.
It’s fair to wonder what might’ve happened had the Bears not locked in on a quarterback. There were tons of defensive talent available at that point. Not to mention some good offensive linemen. The quarterback opportunities would come again. Instead they reached and paid the price for it. McNown’s disaster left them searching for quarterback help for basically the next decade. In that time they ended up wasting multiple elite defenses in 2001, 2005, and 2006 on the likes of Jim Miller and Rex Grossman.
Bears fans have grown familiar with this feeling. It’s little wonder they have no faith that Pace will figure things out.
