The Chicago Bears Were Reportedly Kicking The Tires On Ben Roethlisberger Before The Steelers Committed

It really feels like the Chicago Bears have been linked to every single quarterback who may (or may not) be on the market this offseason. Add Ben Roethlisberger to the list.

Big Ben has recently restructured his contract with the Steelers for the 2021 season, but there was a time when we weren’t certain that the Steelers were going to stick with their longtime QB for next season. According to reports, when the Steelers were mum on Roethlisberger’s future, the Bears were interested.

Per CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora:

Chicago needs a major upgrade, and the options are limited. League sources said the Bears were in fact pretty serious about Carson Wentz, and had internal discussions about Big Ben as well and were primed to be perhaps the only landing spot for him had he not agreed to take a significant pay cut to stay in Pittsburgh.

The Chicago Bears being tied to Ben Roethlisberger shows just how desperate the organization is to get some new blood under center. The team is seemingly all-in on trying to land either Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson, but they’ve also been tied to Marcus Mariota, Sam Darnold, Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr. They’re now being said to have called about Roethlisberger, as well.

Basically, the Bears are looking for anybody not named Nick Foles or Mitchell Trubisky.

The report on Ben Roethlisberger is particularly interesting to me because it doesn’t seem like the Steelers even want the veteran QB. They just don’t have any other option. Big Ben is old, doesn’t really have much of a work ethic, is losing any mobility he used to have, and can’t really connect on the deep ball anymore.

Even with all that being said, the Bears were ready to bring Ben Roethlisberger over to Chicago. There’s desperation…and then there’s the Chicago Bears. As a fan, you  just have to pray that they somehow land Russ or Deshaun.

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