INDIANAPOLIS — The Bears’ next quarterback needs a running mate.
Their previous two never got one. When the Bears traded up to draft Justin Fields in 2021, they gave up a first-round pick the next season. A year after the Bears traded up to draft Mitch Trubisky in 2017, they dealt two first-rounders for Khalil Mack.
Throw away the two quarterbacks, and the Bears have drafted one offensive skill-position player in Round 1 since 2008: wide receiver Kevin White, who caught 25 passes in four seasons. In the years between the Trubisky and Fields drafts, the Bears didn’t take an offensive player in Round 1. This year, they’ll have a chance to take two.
The first figures to be USC star quarterback Caleb Williams. He’ll be at the center of the NFL universe at 8 a.m. Friday, when he steps behind the Podium 4 microphone inside Hall J at the NFL Scouting Combine. The Bears consider him the best quarterback in the draft and seem likely to make him Fields’ replacement.
Once they do that, they need to give Williams an offensive player he can grow with. The Bears already boast wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, who rank among the best dozen at their positions in the NFL. Drafting a pass-catcher with the No. 9 pick in this year’s draft would give Williams a running mate who can learn the Bears’ offense alongside him.
The Bears are comfortable drafting a quarterback because of the infrastructure general manager Ryan Poles built by trading last year’s No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers for Moore, right tackle Darnell Wright, this year’s top pick and next year’s second rounders.
“As a front-office person, these are the situations and the flexibility that you dream of in terms of putting a team together,” Poles told the Sun-Times this week. “I think of even last year’s [trade] situation and how grateful we were to . . . accelerate our growth. I have nightmares sometimes thinking, ‘What if that didn’t happen? Where would we be?’ ”
The Bears, though, know they still need a pass-catcher. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze are receivers expected to be drafted in the top half of Round 1. The Bears are interested in all three at No. 9, though Harrison figures to be long gone.
Georgia tight end Brock Bowers could be available. He’s merely the greatest college tight end of all time — at least according to Pro Football Focus. As a freshman, he led all college tight ends with 13 receiving touchdowns. He then won the John Mackey Award, given to the best tight end in the college game, the next two years.
Bowers has more receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, yards after contact and missed tackles after catches than any college tight end of the last 10 years. His 94.1 PFF receiving grade is the highest the site has ever given someone at his position.
Bowers, who met with the Bears this week, sounded intrigued by the idea of being paired with Williams.
‘‘I mean, it would be pretty sweet,’’ Bowers said Thursday. ‘‘You saw what he did at USC, and hopefully it translates well to the next level. Yeah, it would be pretty awesome to play with another top rookie like that.’’
The Bears have a tight end, though — Kmet is entering the first season of his four-year, $50 million contract extension. The question for the Bears becomes whether Bowers, who can play in the slot, makes sense alongside Kmet, who plays mostly an in-line position. And whether it would be worth the Bears committing both $50 million and a top-10 draft pick to one position.
Bowers is all for it.
“I remember watching Cole Kmet,” Bowers said. “He does a great job in all aspects of the game. It would be exciting.”
