Arkush: Enhance your Super Bowl experience by scouting for future Bears
What's the best way for Chicago Bears fans to watch Super Bowl LV Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
Here's a thought: The Bears will head into free agency and the NFL draft this year with a pretty clear list of needs if they hope to have a shot at playing on Super Sunday next season, and both the Chiefs and Bucs will feature a number of impending free agents who might fill some of those needs.
So, while enjoying the game, why don't we all do a little scouting as well?
At the top of the Bears' shopping lists, you'll find offensive tackles, quarterbacks, safeties, wide receivers, running backs, edge rushers and linebackers.
Neither Tom Brady nor Patrick Mahomes will be going anywhere, but as the Bears look for starters at tackle, safety (if they don't re-sign Tashaun Gipson or Deon Bush), wide receiver (if they don't re-sign Allen Robinson) - and depth at running back, edge rusher and linebacker, the Chiefs and Bucs will offer a number of options.
Chiefs free agents: Wide receivers Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson, running back Le'Veon Bell, safety Daniel Sorenson, and edge rushers Tanoh Kpassagnon, Taco Charlton and Alex Okafor.
Watkins hopes to play Sunday but has been battling a calf injury that's kept him out of the playoffs to date. Robinson is on the COVID-19 list but is testing negative and could be available Sunday. Bell has been limited in practice with a knee injury, and Charlton is on injured reserve.
Watkins was the fourth overall pick in the 2014 draft by Buffalo. He was a quality receiver with the Bills, his one year with the L.A. Rams and in his three seasons with the Chiefs after signing a three-year free agent deal similar to the one Allen Robinson signed with the Bears that season.
But unlike Allen Robinson, he's never been more than a No. 2 receiver, a spot likely to be occupied by Darnell Mooney, and so is an unlikely target for the Bears.
Demarcus Robinson, however, is a prototypical and productive No. 3 receiver Bears coach Matt Nagy coached for two seasons and is 27 years old, making him a player worth watching.
Bell never has returned to his All-Pro form since sitting out the first nine weeks of the 2018 season with Pittsburgh, but he could be a perfect complement to David Montgomery for the Bears' vacant No. 2 running back spot.
Sorenson has been the Chiefs' best defensive player after Tyrann Mathieu this year, but at 31 probably not what the Bears are looking for, and Kpassagnon is built like a five-technique but has not lived up to his second-round draft status.
Bucs free agents: Wide receiver Chris Godwin, running back Leonard Fournette, linebacker Kevin Minter, safety/linebacker Deone Bucannon and edge rusher Shaquil Barrett.
Godwin, Fournette and Bucannon could be of interest to the Bears, but Minter, at 31, probably doesn't provide the depth they're looking for at inside linebacker, and Barrett will be way out of their price range.
Fournette definitely has made himself some money in the past 10 weeks or so but, like Watkins, never has played up to his status as a No. 4 overall draft choice.
He has, however, been a good fit for the Bucs in a two-back tandem, appears to have passed Ronnie Jones as the No. 1 back right now and could be a great complement to Montgomery in a 1A or 1B type of duo.
Godwin, also like Watkins, is not a No. 1, but he's been a productive No. 2 with 23 touchdowns over the past three seasons, he won't turn 25 until the end of this month and, like Allen Robinson, is a Penn State product.
Bucannon is listed as a linebacker, but at 6-foot-1, 211 pounds, he is a converted safety who could be a terror in the box and a perfect complement to Eddie Jackson while coming at a reasonable price for a chance to restart his career. He was a difference-maker as hybrid safety/linebacker over five seasons in Arizona but spent the regular season on the Bucs' practice squad. However, he has been elevated to the active roster for the playoffs.
• Twitter: @Hub_Arkush