NFL Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears Somehow Drafting Marcus Mariota is a Pipe Dream

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By @brianneal23

Marcus Mariota Chicago Bears

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Can we just stop all this nonsense, please?

Marcus Mariota is and rightfully should be the top QB prospect in the 2015 NFL Draft. He’s an amazing talent who ran Oregon‘s offense to near perfection. His combination of size, speed and arm talent makes him essentially a bigger version of Robert Griffin III, though, hopefully without any of the injury issues in the future.

As the top prospect, there are many potential suitors in the top 10 of this year’s draft, and, of course, Chicago Bears fans and the media have been hyping it up because they all hope that Jay Cutler is gone. But even if the polarizing QB was released and the Bears ate his salary for the next two years, would they even be able to get Marcus Mariota to replace him with?

The answer is a big fat “no.” N. O. There is literally zero chance of the Bears getting Mariota in this draft, unless they trade up to the No. 1 pick, which is way too risky for a rookie QB and it would take several first-round draft picks plus some, as the precedent was set already with RG III and the Washington Redskins. That’s something the Bears can’t afford to do with issues all over on the offensive line, defense and special teams.

Chicago should have a top 10 pick in the draft, but that won’t be remotely close enough to get Mariota. The best pick the Bears can possibly get is No. 6. And that’s only if the Bears lose to the Minnesota Vikings (which actually has a good chance of not happening, surprisingly) and the Redskins somehow defeat the Dallas Cowboys (which has a very poor chance of happening).

So, the Bears will likely have the No. 7 pick as a best-case scenario in this year’s draft, but if they do beat the Vikings, they’ll have even more competition for keeping that spot. The reason for that is because six other teams in the NFL have six wins right now, and the odds of them all winning in Week 17 and leaving the Bears as the only 6-10 team is highly unlikely. Therefore, the Bears could feasibly end up anywhere between picks No. 6 and 13. Again, none of those come even close to nabbing Mariota, especially considering the top 5-6 picks of the draft include teams like the Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and Redskins — one of which will definitely take the former Duck in a heartbeat.

Instead, what the Bears need to do is focus on the right route to take here. Trading a handful of high draft picks for a rookie QB is a bad idea. Chicago needs to keep Cutler for the next two years, draft another QB this year in the first few rounds and groom him (because David Fales likely isn’t the guy of the future) and use that hopefully-top-10 pick to take a great pass rusher, linebacker or offensive tackle.

Getting someone like Mariota is a pipe dream, and would only set the Bears back further from reaching postseason relevancy anytime soon.

Brian Neal is an NFL contributor for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @brianneal23.

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