3 Random thoughts on the Chicago Bears trading away Roquan Smith

Trading Roquan Smith does not mean the Chicago Bears are tanking

Too many fans are already claiming that the Chicago Bears made this move to try and tank the remainder of the season. Losing a player with Roquan Smith’s talent hurts. He was voted a captain for a reason. That said, Smith plays probably the most replaceable position on the defense. Plus, if he was that pivotal to Matt Eberflus’ defense, he wouldn’t have been traded.

When you think about the running back position, it isn’t valued highly across the NFL. The off-the-ball linebacker position is very similar. This is probably a lesson to be learned that the franchise shouldn’t be drafting off-the-ball linebackers in the top 10 of any draft. The positional value is too low and other positions should be considered instead — offensive tackle, wide receiver, EDGE rusher.

Now, let’s not expect whoever steps in to play Smith’s position to fill his shoes completely. However, the team has struggled against the run all season outside of the Patriots game. Will we see the team take even more of a dip in that regard or will it really not matter in the grand scheme of things? My first thought is that we won’t see high-impact plays like takeaways, but it won’t cause the run defense to just fall off of a cliff — it was at the edge anyway.

The Bears put up 29 points last week vs the Cowboys — the most points scored on the Dallas defense all season. Add that to the 33 points vs the Patriots and the Bears’ offense has scored 40% of their season points total in just three weeks. To think that the team is going to play any differently at this point is just silly. They aren’t a good team from a talent standpoint, sending Roquan Smith off isn’t Ryan Poles’ way of trying to tank. It’s his way to build for the future. That brings us to my final thought.