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

Gaining insight from former Chicago Bears quarterbacks

When it comes to understanding quarterback play within the Chicago Bears offense, I put Jim Miller as my top resource. Miller was an NFL quarterback for 12 years and was a starter for the Bears who led them to the playoffs in 2001. He was also a Patriot in 2004 and was in the quarterback room with Tom Brady when the Patriots won a Super Bowl. He now analyzes every Bears game for Fox Sports 32.

Whether you are a fan or a media person covering the Chicago Bears, there is some level of an emotional connection to the team while watching their games. So they are not just digesting the surface of what is happening in a game. They are also absorbing the emotional guts of the games. Using this emotional content tempered with some objectivity is how someone develops an extra insight into what is going on with the team and its players.

I got my first real education about quarterbacks from watching Jim McMahon play for the Bears. Watching Jimmy Mac play quarterback in Chicago was a pure pleasure for many different reasons. Watching him play is where I learned that the most important things to look for in a quarterback are intangibles which include decision making and then accuracy.

Jim McMahon had every great intangible you could ever want in a quarterback which included his own lightning-quick processor. A coach once said about him that if you showed him something once he never forgot it. He was a fierce competitor who consistently made great decisions, even under great pressure. He was also was a great leader, tough as nails and an accurate passer.

In college, he was a prolific passer for Brigham Young University. In his junior year, he threw for 4,571 yards with 47 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 12 games. He could have been a prolific passer in the NFL as well but the Bears didn’t need that from him. Of course, he wanted to pass the ball more but he was a good teammate and stuck to the Bears winning formula.

That team relied on their world-class defense and their world-class running back as the main reasons they won games. However, there were more than a few times when McMahon’s special skills were the main reason the Chicago Bears won and not their defense or running game. Evidence of this is how poorly they fared in the playoffs without McMahon.

If the Packers Charles Martin had not brutally thrown him to the ground and greatly damaged his throwing shoulder, the perception of Jim McMahon would be very different from what it is today. If McMahon had not suffered that brutal injury on top of other injuries the 85-era Bears would have won multiple Super Bowls and Jim McMahon would very likely be acknowledged today as a franchise quarterback.