(670 The Score) Another layer of misery has been added to the Bears’ tortured history with quarterbacks.
Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes “wholeheartedly thought” the Bears would select him in the 2017 NFL Draft, his father, Pat Mahomes Sr., said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Monday afternoon. That tidbit wasn’t entirely new, as Kalyn Kahler reported for Bleacher Report back in 2020 that the Bears had told Mahomes that he was their top quarterback, but Mahomes’ father shed more light on the matter Monday, when his straightforward approach to the topic felt like another punch to the gut for Chicago fans.
The Bears entered the 2017 NFL Draft with the No. 3 overall pick, from which they traded up to No. 2 overall, where they selected quarterback Mitchell Trubisky out of North Carolina. The Chiefs then traded up to No. 10 to land Mahomes, who’s already a five-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl champion and MVP winner at age 27. Mahomes has also led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years and could win his second title when Kansas City faces Philadelphia in on Feb. 12. As everyone in Chicago knows well, the Trubisky pick never panned out.
“I don’t know if there was ever a moment I thought it, but I felt he wholeheartedly thought it,” Mahomes Sr. said when asked if there was ever a moment when he believed the Bears would select his son. “Because they told him that they were going to draft him. They told him they were going to draft him, so we thought he was going to be the third pick overall and go to Chicago. He had a great meeting when he there and liked all the guys that were doing stuff there. He thought he was going to be a Bear. And then once they traded up and got Mitch, it kind of hurt him. It really did. He always knew that Kansas City had told him that they were going to come up and get him. They just didn’t know how far they’d have to go. But initially, he thought he was going to be a Chicago Bear.”
Mahomes’ father wasn’t sure which individual associated with the Bears told his son they would draft him, though he did note that then-general manager Ryan Pace and then-coach John Fox were among those that Mahomes met with.
“In those meetings, they were impressed how he did on the whiteboard, calling the plays and knowing all that,” Mahomes Sr. said. “Patrick has what they call an eidetic memory, where he can see something one time and he’ll always remember it. So they were impressed by that, and they told him they were going to get him. But in the end, it ended up they passed and went with Mitch and he was fortunate enough to land with Kansas City with Andy Reid.”
Mahomes “definitely wanted” to be drafted by Chicago, his father added later.
“He liked everything about it,” Mahomes Sr. said. “He was looking forward to going there. Who doesn’t want to be the first quarterback taken in the draft?”
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