Part One: Compelling reasons why the Chicago Bears need Mac Jones

The Chicago Bears have plenty of experts to listen to regarding Mac Jones

Chris Simms, recently, put out his ranking of the 2021 quarterback class. He ranked Zach Wilson first just as June Jones did, second was Trevor Lawrence and third was Mac Jones. Simms had some very interesting things to say about the Alabama QB:

"“He’s a lot better than I thought. He’s just an absolute machine throwing the football. His arm isn’t as powerful as Trevor Lawrence’s or Zach Wilson’s, but his arm is more powerful than Joe Burrow’s. Now, he’s not the athlete and can’t make the plays Burrow did avoiding blitzes and running, but Jones has unbelievable feet, really quick in the pocket. I think he is a top-10 pick. I have no doubt about that. His ability to go through reads and process information and get onto the next guy is as good as I’ve seen the last few years. It’s up there with Joe Burrow.”"

Another member of the ex-NFL quarterback club, three-time Super Bowl winner, Troy Aikman, is a champion of accuracy being the number one trait he looks for in quarterbacks. Aikman, recently, included this in a tweet about Trevor Lawrence “accurate is always my top priority.” If you search for a list of the most important traits in a quarterback, accuracy is always at the top or near the top of someone’s list.

Accuracy and decision-making are typically the top two traits quarterback experts look for in a quarterback. There is no doubt that Mac Jones is extraordinary at both being accurate and consistently making quality decisions in choosing his targets.

He used these qualities to lead the Crimson Tide to the NCAA Football Championship. He accomplished this by completing 77 percent of his passes, throwing for 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions in 402 throws.

He is a phenomenal talent hidden from the masses as such because he does not have special arm strength and is ordinary in his athleticism. Too bad, this Southern boy was born to be a starting NFL quarterback.

Mike Leach is another quarterback expert who places the highest value on accuracy. Leach has been cranking out high-powered college offenses almost every year going back to the 2000 season. That is when he first became a college head coach at Texas Tech.

The “air raid offense” that he brought to Texas Tech is as prolific an offense as you will find in the history of college football. It is the same college offense Patrick Mahomes played under at Texas Tech with Kliff Kingsbury as his head coach.

In an interview about what are the top five traits to look for in a quarterback, Mike Leach said, “Well, if you go to the NFL Hall of Fame none of them have all those five things but any of them that are any good have the first two, which is, he accurate and does he make good decisions.”

I imagine if these criteria were strictly used in the 2000 NFL Draft when the “GOAT”, Tom Brady, was being drafted, he would not have lasted until the 199th pick. If we go back even further in the 1979 NFL Draft, the great Joe Montana was the fourth quarterback drafted at pick 82.

One of the biggest knocks on Brady and Montana back in their day as it is now with Mac Jones is arm strength. In the June Jones interview, he points out that the minimum you need a QB to throw the ball crisply is 50 yards.

The reason for this is that it is reasonable to expect the offensive line to give a quarterback, 3-3.5 seconds to release the ball on any given play. So you need a quarterback who can deliver a strong throw within at least 50 yards. This time frame is the range a pass target can realistically be expected to run 50 yards.