The Chicago Bears did not have the season they were hoping for, finishing the year with a 3-14 record after a Week 18 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. However, they did get a silver lining for the poor play by securing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft, which Bears chairman George McCaskey celebrated in a hilarious way on Sunday.
A credit can certainly be given to former Bears coach and current Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith, who went for a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts to win the game and give the Texans a better record than the Bears.
And the 2-point try is good. Houston leads.pic.twitter.com/SqcgAvgClB
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) January 8, 2023
It certainly appears that George McCaskey was excited about this result. According to Jon Greenberg of The Athletic, McCaskey walked around the Bears stadium with a Yeti cooler full of ice cream bars and proceeded to give them out to people.
If you want to know the mood of the owner right now, a Bears exec in the elevator said George McCaskey was toting around a Yeti cooler full of ice cream bars giving them out to people.
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) January 8, 2023
This top overall selection in the draft certainly makes the Bears one of the most intriguing teams to watch this offseason.
The team has by far the most available cap space in the NFL with $119 million available to spend in free agency. Pairing this with a top draft pick opens up a ton of possibilities for general manager Ryan Poles this offseason.
Second-year quarterback Justin Fields flashed some impressive performances this year, so they will likely not be in the market of selecting a quarterback with that top draft pick.
This makes their draft pick even more valuable, and a quarterback-needy team may be very interested in trading up with the Bears for the pick, potentially giving Chicago a ton of draft capital in the process.