Tom Brady Pursuit in 2020 Confirmed by Bears Owner: 'It Didn't Work out for Us'

The Chicago Bears almost went from a franchise that had never found a true franchise quarterback to one employing the GOAT.

As ESPN's Courtney Cronin noted Thursday, Tom Brady revealed during the Week 4 broadcast of the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers that the Bears were "very stealth in their recruitment" of him ahead of the 2020 campaign.

He ultimately joined the Buccaneers, and the rest is history considering he won his seventh career Super Bowl and led the NFC South team to the playoffs in each of his final three seasons.

Bears chairman George McCaskey confirmed Brady's story Thursday.

"Well, that seems like ancient history at this point," McCaskey said. "I do remember we were interested in pursuing him. It didn't work out for us. Worked out great for him in Tampa.

"Any time you're in a situation like that you're not putting all of your eggs in one basket. You're looking at alternatives. It's the same in free agency, it's the same in the draft. If the person you're targeting isn't available, you want to make sure that you've done your due diligence on all other options. So that was one option that we were looking at."

Chicago did not land Brady and instead acquired Nick Foles from the Jacksonville Jaguars via a trade.

Foles and Mitchell Trubisky split time in 2020 before the Bears drafted Justin Fields in the first round in 2021. While Fields showed flashes of his talent, especially as a runner, he never fully lived up to expectations that were put in place when he was drafted.

That left Chicago on a familiar path of looking for a franchise quarterback, although it may have finally done so with Caleb Williams.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft is 3-2 on the season and has shown steady improvement throughout his first five games. He just threw for 304 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in Sunday's win over the Carolina Panthers.

While the future looks bright with Williams under center, it is surely easy for Bears fans to dream about what life would have been like with Brady given the franchise's overall history at the position.