Hub Arkush: Bears aren't willing to take chance on Kaepernick
The only veteran QB signing available to the Bears right now that would be a clear upgrade over where they're at is Colin Kaepernick - and it appears they're not willing to make the move.
Whether that's for football reasons or they just don't have the stones for it, I don't know.
And please, that's not an indictment of the Bears, and I couldn't care less whether this is going to incite the one side or the other out there.
On the political side, whether I agree with your beliefs or not, I have nothing but the utmost respect for your right to have them, but there should be absolutely nothing political about the Kaepernick situation.
He is an impressive young man who expressed the rights to free speech and actions he is guaranteed by our constitution, he did it in a reasonable way that harmed no one and no thing and he clearly meant no disrespect to anyone other than those who are violating each of our individual rights as Americans - and if you dispute his rights to do what he did free from any recriminations, then you obviously don't fully understand our constitution, and you're probably the one who may be less deserving of those rights than Kaepernick.
From the football perspective, Kaepernick is clearly better than at least eight starting quarterbacks right now, period, and almost certainly better than nine more - including Mitch Trubisky, Josh Allen and Jameis Winston - but you wouldn't choose him today over any of them because all of their teams acquired those players as their quarterbacks of the future and all are still somewhere in their development phases, which you wouldn't want to quit on today.
However, Kaepernick is also clearly light years better than any backup quarterback in the league right now - with the possible exception, I suppose, of Teddy Bridgewater - although I do need to see more there - so the fact that he doesn't currently have a job in the league is one of the great injustices in all of sports.
I'm not sure how any NFL owner looks himself in the mirror right now knowing that young man is out of work.
As to a potential fit with the Bears, is there a single fan out there who doesn't agree he's better than Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray?
I am nowhere near ready to give up on Mitch Trubisky yet. I can't say that strongly enough.
But I also see no reason he and Kaepernick couldn't coexist, compliment each other and make the team overall that much stronger.
If the answer is it would be too much for Mitch's psyche to handle - which I don't believe for a second - then Trubisky isn't going to make it anyway.
If this Bears team loses more games with Daniel or Bray at quarterback while Kaepernick sits at home begging for a chance, I don't really see any way Bears brass can defend that knowing how close the rest of their roster is right now.
• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.