Ok but that isn't reality. This team isn't the 2009 Bears. You make some good points but Watson during a year where he led the league in yardage had an OL worse than the Bears and barely any weapons to work with. Something tells me a guy that can almost put up 5000 yards could do way more with less than Jay Cutler did.
The Cutler deal is way different because Cutler was a one year wonder who people kept saying was a loser. Turned out they were right. These types of trades for franchise QBs dont even happen in the modern NFL. Cutler wasnt one of them. He was just a guy. Josh McDaniels was way ahead of the curve. Watson is a certified difference maker at the position. Again, look at what he's done the past few years. IMO thats priceless for a team that hasn't has anything close to a franchise qb. The spreading the weath around thing hasn't worked for the Bears. Its all been attempted.
The putting all your eggs in the proven upper tier QB basket has yet to be checked off. Give me the massive contract. They won 8 games with garbage QBs and without Eddie Jackson or Robert Quinn supplying a damn thing.
Is there anything the Texans do right now better than the Bears outside of having a great QB? I cant think of anything.
But in essence you are proving my point. The Bears won eight games with a quarterback of obviously less talent. Watson played with less wide receiver talent, a porous offensive line and a bad defense. They were 27th in points allowed, 30th in yards allowed, 30th in rushing TDs allowed and dead last in turnovers. You have to have talent on both sides of the ball to be successful. A top tier QB is essential but not the only component of winning football.
How much of Watson's contract contributed to that? Honestly I am not sure sure but it, and other contracts like for guys like Watt, had to have something to do with the teams poor play. In all honesty his cap hit in 2020 isn't terrible and it isn't horrible in 2021 (something like 16 Million in 2021). But the cap hit goes to an amazing 40 million and 42 million for the next two years.
Now imagine that contract coming to Chicago. We basically would be able to put a potentially solid team around him for maybe one year. Maybe. After that the escalation of the contract would hamstring the ability to replace vets that would have to be let go. To make matters worse we wouldn't have some potential lower contract draft picks that could work their way into starting positions. We probably couldn't sign players like Allen Robinson because of the issues of staying under the cap for 2022. Kyle Fuller, Akiem Hicks would probably have to walk. Roquan Smith would be in his fifth year and could be tendered for another year but it would be difficult to sign him long term as well. Lets remember that Khalil Mack is still getting 27 million for that year. Even if the 2022 Cap is back at the same level as in 2020 we are looking at roughly 1/3 of Chicago's available cap space taken up by two players.
The reason teams like Green Bay and Seattle continue to win despite paying large salaries for their QBs is because they have draft picks to bring in talent where it is needed. As much as I like Watson and would love to see him in a Bears uniform I fear all we will do is waste him and saddle him with a substandard team. Simply put, the players we have here that got us to 8-8 would have to either be traded away or released to keep us under the cap. One of the biggest reasons teams pay QBs that much after their rookie contract is because it is a stable position and teams can draft to fill holes otherwise taken up by expensive free agents.
As I said. I would love to have Watson here but I don't think it would be a win for Chicago. If DeShaun Watson was frustrated there imagine his frustration here dealing with a team that would deteriorate rapidly right after he arrived. At least in Houston there is a chance that the team can rebuild. Here there would be no chance for at least two to three years.