#3: Home Cooking
Coaching staff: Replace John Fox with Josh McDaniels
This scenario starts much the same way as the first one. The Bears locate and hire an offensive coach who understands how to breed a quarterback. Josh McDaniels might be the most qualified of anybody in the league at least from a play calling standpoint. He also has prior head coaching experience, though it was largely a forgettable two seasons in Denver. He’s older and more mature now. Perhaps he learned some important lessons since then.
Free Agency: Trade for Jimmy Garoppolo
The idea behind the McDaniels hire would be of course trying to keep Fangio but also creating a package situation to get that next quarterback. Much speculation has gone around about possibly trading for Jimmy Garoppolo. He is the current backup of Tom Brady in New England, a former 2nd round pick and Illinois native. He’s also familiar with the offensive scheme of McDaniels, who has been his coordinator since getting drafted. Reuniting the two makes plenty of sense, assuming the price to get him via trade isn’t too steep.
The Draft: Select Jonathan Allen in 1st round
It’s hard to say whether the Garoppolo trade will cost the Bears their 1st round pick. There is a chance he can be hand for two 2nd rounders. Or Ryan Pace could choose to give up a future 1st rounder. The goal of course is to preserve what will likely be a top 5 pick for this team. With Garoppolo in place, the team decides to give the defense another stud for its front seven. Jonathan Allen is a beast coming out of Alabama. A versatile edge player who can rush the passer but has enough size to shift inside during certain downs. Pairing him with Leonard Floyd could be devastating long-term.