The Texans are one of the worst teams in the NFL, haven’t beaten a single good opponent and already fired their coach.
They’re exactly the type of opponent the Bears need right now, except for one big problem: Deshaun Watson. The Texans are always dangerous if he’s playing, and Sunday will be another painful reminder that the Bears could’ve had that same threat had they not passed on him in the 2017 draft.
This will be Watson’s first game at Soldier Field. Remember Patrick Mahomes’ first visit?
Mahomes didn’t forget about the Bears snubbing him, and he saluted general manager Ryan Pace for it by counting to 10 after a touchdown pass in the Chiefs’ 26-3 romp nearly a year ago. The Bears took Mitch Trubisky at No. 2, allowing Mahomes to drop to the Chiefs at No. 10 and the Texans to land Watson at No. 12.
Will Watson remove a cleat to count to 12 on his toes Sunday? Or does he have something even cleverer in mind?
Mahomes is the star of that draft class, having already won an MVP and a Super Bowl in his first three seasons, and will make a run at being the greatest player of all time. But Watson is the more legitimate second-guess for Pace. The Chiefs outsmarted the entire league on Mahomes, but Pace should’ve known better on Watson.
It appears he knew very little about him, actually, and didn’t give him much consideration.
“The bears NEVER ONCE talked to me..” Watson tweeted in May.
They really should have.
Watson was the best, most impactful player in college football during his incredible three-year run with Clemson. He was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy twice and knocked off Alabama for the national championship. He threw for more than 10,000 yards, rushed for nearly 2,000 and had 116 total touchdowns.
“I’m just telling you: [If teams] pass on Deshaun Watson, they’re passing on Michael Jordan,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said before the 2017 draft. “Deshaun Watson is the best, by a long shot.”
Maybe Watson will do the Jordan pose if he scores Sunday.
While he can’t keep up with Mahomes, Watson’s excellent play has made a mockery of the Bears ignoring him and opting for Trubisky, who is set to leave in free agency after this season because the Bears declined his fifth-year option. Watson just signed a four-year, $156 million extension.
As Pace rambles about quarterbacks developing at different speeds, the Texans saw almost immediately that Watson was a great choice. In seven games as a rookie, he threw 19 touchdown passes against eight interceptions and posted a 103.0 passer rating.
He only got better from there, despite losing half of his rookie season to a torn ACL, and made the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons. His 95 career touchdown passes are the fourth-most by any quarterback through his first 50 games, trailing only Dan Marino (114), Mahomes (107) and Kurt Warner (101).
Even with the Texans a total mess, Watson has been superb. He is tied for third in the NFL in passer rating (110.0), ninth in touchdown passes (24) and third in yards per game (295.2). He has thrown an interception on just 1.5% of his passes, which is the best mark of his career.
In a season that has been one embarrassment after another for the Bears, there’s a fresh one looming for them this weekend. Watson will be one of the best quarterbacks they have faced and he will surely be as eager as Mahomes was to remind them just how badly they got it wrong when they bypassed him.
