Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
“If the Bears do retain the third pick in the draft they will be able to choose a defensive player who is a difference maker at either the edge, 5-technique or safety depending on the first two picks. The second round should also produce an excellent player at tight end or on defense. And another starter should be found with the best available player in the third round. This is a great draft for certain positions. This is if the Bears ignore quarterback in the first three rounds. With five or six quarterbacks worthy of being drafted in the first round in 2018, why not wait till then? I am ok with Brian Hoyer next season. The Bears are not going to be a playoff or even a .500 team next season so improve the areas that can be most improved in this draft. There may well be a new coaching staff in 2018. Why not let them develop the quarterback of the future? We have waited this long after all. — Thomas H., Parts Unknown”
The idea of waiting to address the quarterback position is precisely the kind of thinking that has gotten the Bears in this predicament in the first place. I agree that there look to be some strong positions in this draft and some of them happen to match up with need areas for the Bears. But this franchise does not have a greater need than at quarterback and the longer the Bears put off the pursuit of finding the next franchise quarterback, the longer it’s going to take to actually land that guy. There’s no guarantee that quarterback is waiting for them in the 2018 draft. None. Zero. There is no guarantee that player is in this draft either. But you’ve got to swing and swing and swing and swing until you find that player. You can’t stop swinging until you get that player. The Bears’ biggest problem? They’ve been unwilling to swing for far too long. I’d also be very careful saying there will be five or six quarterbacks worthy of a first-round pick in the 2018 draft. A lot can change between now and then.”
I’m going to add one comment in my strong support of Biggs’s comment: Not only should the Bears not wait until 2018 to take a quarterback, they should take one BOTH YEARS. And EVERY YEAR after that until they find (at least) one.
Quarterback is a hit and miss proposition at the best of times. You are going to miss on some, even the best in the class. But statistically the truth is that good quarterbacks are more consistently found high in the draft, particularly in the first round. And it’s not even close. That means that you have to live with the occasional bust and keep taking your swings. Over and over and over again until you get it right.
The Bears need to draft a quarterback at every opportunity every year. It’s not an either or proposition.