Sports Time Radio

I know that I’ve mentioned a time or two here that the three of us who host Sports Time Radio Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and myself all live in the Chicago suburbs. I understand that from time to time we’ll get caught up with a sports story that might not seem mainstream, but has a Chicago angle. This story however while maybe not the biggest sports story is significant enough to be considered a large story. You’ll have to let me know what you think.

There’s been a rumor that the Chicago Bears have been quietly looking for a quarterback and it appears that they are interested in David Carr of the now Las Vegas Raiders.

Now for this to happen the Bears and their general manager Ryan Pace are going to have to admit that Mitchell Trubisky is a bust. Pace not only spent the 2nd pick in the 2017 draft on Trubisky they actually traded up a pick to get him. Some how the San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch convinced Pace that there where teams willing to trade up ahead of the Bears and select Trubisky. The Bears gave up a 1st round, a 3rd round and a 4th round pick in the 2017 draft along with a 2018 3rd round pick just to move up that one spot and select Trubisky. That’s a lot to give up to move up just one spot in the draft, but if you where getting a franchise quarterback it could possibly be worth it.

Pace had already announced that Trubisky would be the Bears starting quarterback next season. In three seasons with the Bears Trubisky has started 41games and has a winning record at 23-18. After what looked like a breakout season in 2018 Trubisky regressed last season and that’s when the questions started.

Now looking at the situation this might not only be a question about Trubisky, but a question about Pace himself. In the four years Pace has handled the draft for the Bears he’s selected Kevin White at #7 in 2015, Leonard Floyd at #9 in 2016, Trubisky at #2 2017, Rouan Smith at #8 in 2018 and in 2019 the Bears didn’t have a 1st round pick as it was traded to the Raiders as part of the Khalil Mack deal. The Bears 2020 1st round pick is also owned by the Raiders; so the Bears won’t have a 1st round pick unless they make a trade for one.

White played three season with the Bears and caught 25 passes. The Bears released White after the 2018 season. He went to training camp with the Arizona Cardinals, but didn;t make the team and was out of the NFL last season.

Floyd was looked at as a pass rush specialist and the Bears where hoping he’d post large sack numbers for them. It looked like they might be right as Floyd had 7 sacks as a rookie, but since then Floyd’s sack totals have continued to go down. Last season Floyd had just 3 sacks.

Smith looks like he might be the best of all the 1st round picks Pace has made. Smith played in 12 games last season and was still the team leader with 101 combined tackles and assists. He also had an interception and 2 sacks.

You have to wonder if Trubisky was never going to be a franchise quarterback and it was Pace who made a poor call on taking him as early as they did. Is I the quarterback that needs to be replaced? Or is it the general manager that needs to go?

If the Bears do decide to make a change at quarterback is Carr the answer? In 6 seasons with the Raiders Carr has started all but two games for them. Carr’s record hasn’t been very good though as the team is 39-55 in those starts.

Even though the Raiders went 7-9 Carr had a solid season. He posted the highest career completion percentage of his career at 70.4%. He threw 21 touchdowns and 8 interception while throwing for the second most passing yards in his career 4054.

After looking at Carr’s stats from last season you have to wonder why the Raiders would be as interested as they seem t be in moving on from Carr. I know there are rumors that the Raiders are interested in Tom Brady, but is it really the best idea to move on from a soon to be 29 year old quarterback for a 42 year old quarterback.

If you’re the Bears would you rather have Carr or Trubisky as your quarterback? Then as far as the Raiders go would you prefer to have Carr or Brady as your quarterback?

The NASCAR season move into week two of their season and the best news they received this week was Ryan Newman walking out of the hospital after the crash he had at the end of the Daytona 500 last week. As of now there is no timetable for Newman to return to the #6 car; so for this week in Las Vegas Ross Chastain will be behind the wheel of the Rousch Fenway Racing Ford.

Chastain has 72 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series with one top-10 finish. He has five total wins at the NASCAR national series level and was part of the Championship 4 field in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2019. His first career national series win came in 2018 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Chastain is the full-time driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series for the 2020 season.

Qualifying for the race is this afternoon in Las Vegas, but in final practice last night Jimmie Johnson had the fastest posted speed at 179.432 m.p.h. Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick all posted speeds over 179 m.ph. in final practice.

Martin Truex Jr. looks to be the top pick among fantasy players this week. Harvick along with Brad Keslowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch are also favorites among fantasy players this week.

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