Chicago Bears Have A Connection With Johnny Manziel

The arrival of Hue Jackson as head coach has signaled an end to the Johnny Manziel era with the Cleveland Browns.  In all honesty though, things were already headed that way before he arrived.  Manziel couldn’t stay out of trouble off the field and clearly showed signs he didn’t want to be there towards the end of the season.  Assuming the Browns release him as expected, the question becomes where does he end up?

Everybody is already assuming Dallas given owner Jerry Jones had great interest in him during the 2014 draft.  However, it’s worth noting there is another team out there that has a connection to the mercurial quarterback:  the Chicago Bears.

It turns out Dowell Loggains, their newly promoted offensive coordinator was one of the principle catalysts to getting Manziel drafted to the Browns two years ago.  The two kept up a correspondence during the predraft process and were sending texts to each other during the 1st round action.

Loggains explained that during an interview when he was still with the Browns.

"“We’re sitting there and they keep showing Johnny on T.V. and Johnny and I are texting  and he shoots me a text and he says, ‘I wish you guys would come get me. Hurry up and draft me because I want to be there. I want to wreck this league together.’”"

Sadly things didn’t work out as planned.  Manziel had barely made it onto the field by the end of the season before Loggains was fired.  It’s unclear how that affected the young quarterback, but it is clear it didn’t make things better.  Manziel showed even less connection to the new offensive staff and after a promising debut as starter was again benched due to his actions off the field.

Nobody knows how Loggains feels about the situation now, but the last time anybody asked he made it clear he was a big supporter of Manziel and what he could be.

"“It shows you what type of competitor the kid is and I got to spend so much time with him leading up to this process. … I feel like I know him very well. I had a good relationship with him. That’s the type of kid this guy is. He wants to do well. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he decided to be a Brown.”"

Could that be enough to convince the Chicago Bears brass that the kid is worth the risk?  He’s a 1st round talent for sure who’s issues are mostly due to lacking maturity.  Perhaps a couple years sitting behind a veteran like Jay Cutler who had similar problems when he first came into the league would do him well.

Then again, who needs that distraction?