Bears have plenty of reason to attend Kaepernick workout

The NFL announced Thursday that 11 teams were committed to attend the bizarre open workout it clumsily threw together at the last second for Colin Kaepernick in Atlanta today. Among the confirmed attendees: The G.O.A.T squad (Patriots), all three teams with first-round rookie signal callers (Arizona, New York Giants and Washington), the two clubs that picked quarterbacks first and third overall last year, respectively (Cleveland and New York Jets), and the one whose quarterback won league MVP honors two years ago (Atlanta).

Also confirmed to attend thus far are Denver, Detroit, Miami and Tampa Bay, and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Friday the total list had grown to 24-of-32 teams.

Matt Nagy declined Friday for the second time this week to say whether the Bears would be represented.

"There is another person that is just as high as me and I'm leaving that to him," Nagy said of the decision. "So, [GM] Ryan [Pace] is handling all of that. That is not where I am at right now."

Forgetting for a moment that the league almost certainly is looking to cover its own behind while continuing to have little concern for Kaepernick - who reportedly was notified after select media members were informed of the spectacle and was given only two hours to accept his invitation without knowing who'd be running the event or with whom he'd be working out, among other pertinent details withheld - why on earth wouldn't the Bears be there?

Boasting the NFL's 31st-ranked passing offense (27th in scoring), short of a miraculous turnaround in the final seven games, the Bears are already seemingly resigned to bringing in veteran competition for regressing Mitch Trubisky this offseason - when his fifth-year option decision is due in May.

Of course it's possible the Bears will be there, keeping their intentions close to the vest in order to protect the fragile psyche of Trubisky. And if that's the case, we understand going incognito. But anyone thinking this is a franchise deserving of the benefit of the doubt on anything relative to addressing its decades-long QB conundrum, think again.

Lest we forget, this is the same week that we learned from the Chicago Tribune's excellent deep dive on the 2017 draft that the Bears locked in on Trubisky without even meeting privately with Deshaun Watson. Wouldn't the Bears failing to attend the Kaepernick workout make it pretty clear they still haven't learned the importance of doing their due diligence in order to stabilize their wobbliest position - which also happens to be the most important in all of professional sports?

As Hub wrote five weeks ago, long before this workout was announced, considering Kaepernick wouldn't necessarily signal that the Bears have given up on Trubisky, in whom they obviously remain heavily invested and committed for a minimum of seven more games and likely the 2020 season. But that same commitment won't extend to Chase Daniel or Tyler Bray, and Kaepernick is obviously far more accomplished and clearly a better fit for Matt Nagy's scheme.

Speaking of Nagy, it was in his final season in Kansas City in 2017 when Alex Smith had his career year. You know, the same Alex Smith who was replaced in San Francisco by Kaepernick. The same Alex Smith whose career year came immediately on the heels of the Chiefs taking another swing at the position - trading up for Patrick Mahomes - when he was far more established than Trubisky. Isn't it possible, then, that the presence of Kaepernick actually could bring out the best in Trubisky next season?

The Bears likely don't have enough draft capital to be serious players in the 2020 QB draft class, and their hands might also be tied in what's expected to be a robust veteran free-agent market, given their increasing cap constraints this offseason. Kaepernick is a potential solution to those problems.

Look, this isn't a column about Kaepernick's politics, and we understand that if any team ultimately signs the quarterback who's been banished from the league for nearly three years because of his own beliefs, the requisite discussions preceding that potential decision would go above football. This isn't even a column imploring the Bears to sign Kaepernick, whose football readiness no one knows at the moment, and who almost certainly won't be a factor at quarterback for any club - including the Bears - over the remainder of this season.

This is about a franchise that's done little to nothing right at the quarterback position over a prolonged period since Hall of Famer Sid Luckman was here, showing it will do everything in its power to reverse that crippling trend. That should include at least going to watch a 32-year-old former Super Bowl quarterback, period.