Windy City Gridiron
There’s no way it would happen. It’s impossible. Silly to even think about it. We shouldn’t talk about it, really.
But….what if.
Let me take you back a few years. It’s the summer of 2018. The Chicago Bears have just hired a hot name in coaching circles as an offensive innovator. They have a well-regarded defensive coach manning their defensive coordinator position. They are entering the second season of their first-round quarterback’s career after an up-and-down rookie season led to the previous head coach getting canned. And another team is at an impasse with one of the best young pass rushers in football.
I was at an academic conference in a big banquet room trying to stay awake during the keynote address, and I looked at my phone and I nearly jumped out of my chair – and it was all I could do to keep myself from whooping and cheering. Because yep – the Chicago Bears had traded for Khalil Mack – completing Vic Fangio’s defense and setting the stage for a 12-4 season and the NFC North crown.
So anyway...
Could history repeat itself? Well, the short answer is yes. Any trade is always unlikely until it happens. Most of the talking heads at the time thought it most likely Mack and the Raiders would work out a new contract – few thought the Bears were in the running for making a franchise-defining trade.
And here we are again. All of the factors I mentioned above for 2018 are true of right now in 2025. Now, Ryan Poles is not Ryan Pace – Poles has tended to accumulate picks and look to trade down rather than trade up as Ryan Pace was wont to do. However, what Poles has done is he has twice traded a high draft pick to get an established player: a 2nd round pick for Chase Claypool (failed trade) and 2nd round pick for Montez Sweat (looks pretty good so far). However, a trade for Micah Parsons would, like the Khalil Mack trade, blow both of those out of the water in terms of compensation.
It’s the summer and there was no training camp today – so let’s indulge our imaginations, shall we? Let’s consider some completely unreasonable trade scenarios that sends Parson to the Bears. These are unreasonable because any trade scenario where one of the top five defensive players in all of football, still in his prime, is a potential trade candidate. Teams do not trade these players. Except…in those rare instances when they do.
Bears get: Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys 2026 2nd round pick
Cowboys get: Bears 2026 and 2026 1st round picks, Chicago’s 2026 3rd round pick
Yup, you guessed it – this is basically the same package as the Khalil Mack trade. 2018 Mack and 2025 Parsons are eerily similar players. 2018 Mack played the run better than Parsons, 2025 Parsons is arguably a better speed rusher – but the differences are trivial. Same type...
