The Chicago Bears’ blockbuster trade for Jeffery Simmons drew a lot of comparisons to their 2018 blockbuster trade for Khalil Mack. Both defenders were acquired to give a team with Super Bowl aspirations a boost, but the big difference is that this time the franchise knows exactly who they are with Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, while the 2018 team was headed into year one of Matt Nagy and year two of Mitchell Trubisky.
There wasn’t proof of concept showing that Nagy/Mitch was the right pairing to lead the franchise to a championship. It was just hope. They hoped Trubisky would take a year-two leap.