The Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys Should Be Fighting Over Colin Kaepernick Right Now

Ever since the end of the Jay Cutler era (and maybe for the entire second half of the Cutler era), the Chicago Bears have been searching for a quarterback. After Cutler left following the 2016 season, they drafted Mitch Trubisky. When that failed to produce the intended results, they traded for Nick Foles. That's not exactly going great either.

Like many franchises, the Bears remain on the lookout for a franchise quarterback, but where can they turn? Perhaps Netflix, where Jaden Michael will play a young Colin Kaepernick in a series that will be produced by Ava DuVernay. Unfortunately for the Bears, young Colin Kaepernick is not available to be their quarterback as he was when the 49ers drafted him in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft, three years into the Cutler era when they drafted Wisconsin's Gabe Carimi a few picks earlier. Carimi was traded two years later.

Of course, it's silly to suggest the Bears should have drafted a quarterback back when Cutler was the present and future of their franchise. And it's dumb to suggest that the Bears simply trade for Deshaun Watson in 2020 as one radio caller did today. Especially since Bill O'Brien is no longer in charge.

So while all of that is off the table, the Bears can sign Colin Kaepernick. The Dallas Cowboys, another team that could still possibly win their division, could also use Kaepernick, but you know there is no way Jerry Jones would do it. Instead he's going to let Mike McCarthy run with a guy who once backed up Nathan Peterman at Pittsburgh.

So the Bears have an opportunity. They can roll the dice on someone who hasn't played since before the Bears passed on Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes for the guy on their bench. They ignored Jameis Winston. They whiffed on Teddy Bridgewater. They even missed out on Tom Brady.

What do the Bears have to lose?Head coach Matt Nagy spent the first month of the season looking for an excuse to dump Trubisky. Now he's stuck with Foles and they appear to have a communication problem. Is he going to flip-flop back to Trubisky or try something new?

Kaepernick makes as much sense as anyone, plus he's available. It's mostly unheard of to bring in a new quarterback midway through a season, but this one won't cost you anything except money.

I know it's unlikely Kaepernick ever plays again, but the amount of teams who continue to employ quarterbacks who would at worst be a lateral move from Kaepernick still makes me feel insane. The Bears are one of those teams. So sign Kaepernick. Or just keep doing the same old thing. Recycle the same guys who are in the league because they're in the league.