Imrem: Offering some help to get Chicago Bears a new QB

It's difficult to find something to care about in Super Bowl LI.

Try this: Root for Tom Brady to play well enough at age 39 to remain New England's quarterback of the future and for Atlanta to shred the Patriots' defense.

Those developments would make the final score something like 42-40 either way and more relevantly clear the way for Brady backup Jimmy Garoppolo to be available.

If the Chicago Bears are interested in Garoppolo - they'd be foolish not to be - they better be creative to outbid the likes of Cleveland and San Francisco.

So, how about offering the Patriots players instead of draft choices for Garoppolo, a product of Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows High School?

Player-for-player trades - or in this case players-for-player trades - are uncommon in the NFL, which is why the Bears must be creative.

An Associated Press piece last month listed the needs of each NFL team.

The Bears: "Whether Jay Cutler stays or goes, they clearly need a quarterback of the future."

Hello, Jimmy G.

The Patriots: "After trading Chandler Jones in the off-season, then Jamie Collins in October, and with Chris Long a free agent, New England likely will want young talent to replenish the front seven."

Hello, Bears.

On the surface, the premise concerning the Patriots seems absurd considering they have the NFL's No. 1 scoring defense.

Yet skepticism centers on the Pats going all season without playing against a quarterback whose passer rating was in the NFL's top 10.

(Perhaps most troubling for New England is that Bears bust Shea McClellin is one of their starting middle linebackers.)

There's a fit: The Patriots have a young quarterback the Bears need, and the Bears have defenders who would fortify the Patriots' front seven.

The Bears aren't the NFL's foremost imagineers, so New England commander-in-chief Bill Belichick would have to subtly manipulate the terms of a trade.

Bears: "Bill, what are you asking for Garoppolo?"

Belichick: "For starters, your third overall pick in the draft."

Bears: "We can't do that."

Belichick: "What are you offering?"

Bears: "Duh, we don't know."

Belichick: "Maybe we'd settle for a couple of players off your defense."

Bears: "Sure, OK."

The Bears would think they're outsmarting the Patriots by not surrendering the No. 3 overall pick.

Belichick has had success coaching veterans from other teams, plus he knows Bears personnel after the Pats scrimmaged against them during training camp last summer.

The Bears could tell Belichick he can have any two players from their defense except outside linebacker Leonard Floyd.

When Belichick insists he has to have Floyd and another player - perhaps one of the Bears' inside linebackers to replace McClellin - the response should be "Bingo!"

Two defensive starters comprise a high price for low certainty in the green Garoppolo, but quarterbacks always are overpriced.

Then the Bears could use the No. 3 overall draft pick on a playmaker to help replace the defenders they lost.

Meanwhile, New England would acquire front seven players for a backup quarterback who wasn't going to play for them anyway.

The Bears and Patriots can thank me now or thank me later for negotiating this deal.

mimrem@dailyherald.com