Revisiting the Bears' Franchise-Changing Draft Day Trade for Mitchell Trubisky
By Will Coleman
Chicago fans will always associate the 2017 NFL Draft with the time Bears GM Ryan Pace selected Mitchell Trubisky out of UNC as the first quarterback off the board. Chicago could have landed Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson as the franchise's signal-caller of the future instead, but the Bears apparently saw something special in Trubisky.
The craziest part of Chicago taking a chance on Trubisky is that they traded up on draft day to do it
Mitchell Trubisky was drafted 2nd overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) November 18, 2019
Patrick Mahomes was drafted 10th and Deshaun Watson was drafted 12th. pic.twitter.com/6ft35Uzq2a
Chicago entered the draft with the third-overall pick and thought San Francisco would pick Trubisky at No. 2. The Bears were desperately trying to trade up one spot, and they gave the 49ers an offer they couldn't refuse.
For swapping their top picks, Chicago generously gave San Francisco their third and fourth-round picks in that draft as well as a third-rounder the year after. The 49ers used two of those picks to trade back some more, and they wound up with a deep draft class highlighted by Solomon Thomas and George Kittle. And, well, we all know what the Bears were left with.
The 49ers receive Nos. 67 and 111 this year AND a third-round pick next year to move back one spot.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) April 28, 2017
The move looked to have paid itself off when Chicago went 12-4 in 2018, but even that season was cut short for the Bears. The jury is still out on Trubisky, and his development will determine whether or not this trade was a success or a failure.