The Bears really passed on Patrick Mahomes for Mitchell Trubisky

The Chicago Bears got a good look at the quarterback they should have taken in the 2017 NFL Draft on Sunday night as Patrick Mahomes ran circles around Mitchell Trubisky under the lights at Soldier Field.

The turning point of the 2017 NFL Draft came with the second pick, when the Chicago Bears traded up to select Mitchell Trubisky. The move was designed to give the Bears their franchise quarterback, but the bad news for Chicago fans is that their front office passed on a future superstar in Patrick Mahomes.

The Kansas City Chiefs traded up to get Mahomes at 10, and he already has an MVP award to his name as well as a starring role in one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. The Bears got a first-hand look at the man they could have had on Sunday, when Mahomes led the Chiefs into Soldier Field and effortlessly led Kansas City to a 26-3 victory.

Mahomes and the Chiefs were dynamic throughout, with the star quarterback completing 23-of-33 passes for 251 yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding a 12 yard rushing score in the first quarter for good measure. The Chiefs made it look very easy to move the football throughout the game, which wasn’t the case for the Bears.

Trubisky, who the Bears’ talent evaluators decided would be a better pro than Mahomes, was pretty much a non-factor in the contest. The Bears only asked Trubisky to attempt 34 passes, and he completed 18 of them for a measly 157 yards.

That averages out to 4.6 yards per attempt, meaning Trubisky was a glorified checkdown artist against the Chiefs. Bears’ fans were clearly frustrated with what they saw, voicing their displeasure with the team (which was eliminated from playoff contention last week) throughout the evening.

Anyone watching the game could see that Mahomes is being trusted to run his offensive scheme while Trubisky is simply managing the game for Chicago. Game managers can still win in this league, but the path to success is much harder, making the Bears’ choice to pass on a game changer like Mahomes a potentially franchise-altering mistake.