Bears mailbag: On best draft pick, poor attendance & a Pats trade

The Sun-Times’ experts can answer your Bears questions all week on Twitter. Here’s a sampling of Tuesday’s queries sent to @patrickfinley, who responds with more than 140 characters:

Concerning, embarrassing, pick your adjective. Almost one out of every five fans with Bears tickets Sunday decided to spend their day somewhere else. Of their three remaining games, one is against the one-win 49ers and another is the afternoon of Christmas Eve. The Bears thought they had an advantage when the schedule-maker gave them four of their last six games at home; turns out it’ll cost them money.

As for injuries, brutal is an understatement; linebacker Danny Trevathan was placed on IR, as expected, Tuesday, with receiver Daniel Braverman, a seventh-round pick, promoted from the practice squad and tight end Justin Perillo added to it.

Nose tackle Eddie Goldman tackle who, when healthy, could be the Bears’ best defensive player, period. His instinct to sniff out the third-down shovel pass in the fourth quarter Sunday was remarkable. Amazingly, he’s only 22 — or 21 months younger than rookie Leonard Floyd. By this time next year, I’ll answer your question with Floyd’s name; the outside linebacker has looked special in bursts this year. He’s making a believer out of me.

The Patriots wouldn’t. To get Sam Bradford, the Vikings had to trade a first-rounder in 2017 and a fourth-rounder in 2018 that can become a second- or third-rounder based on conditions. If the Pats move the Eastern Illinois alum, they’re certainly not coughing up their own first-round pick, too.

Would the Bears consider trading, say, the No. 3 overall pick straight for Garoppolo? My guess would be no — moving your highest pick since 1972 is too rich of an ask — but if they thought he was the long-term answer, maybe they’d talk themselves into it, particularly if the Browns are drafting a quarterback ahead of them.

Yup. Presuming the Redskins keep Kirk Cousins, Cutler would be the best free agent quarterback available if the Bears let him go. Other candidates: Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Case Keenum. Yuck. I bet Cutler could land a starting job, given the league-wise quarterback scarcity.

Yes. The Bears’ rookie cornerback returned from a nasty ankle injury last week, was limited in practice and inactive for Sunday’s game. He’s progressing, though.

I don’t know for sure. But I’ve seen the Turf Monster rear its ugly head too often — Hroniss Grasu’s non-contact ACL tear two weeks after a Coldplay concert was particularly ugly — to feel completely comfortable with the surface.