The Bears did nothing at the trade deadline Tuesday.

Neither did the Packers, Lions, Vikings, Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Chargers, Bills, and pretty much every other team. (The Rams sent Aqib Talib to the Dolphins for some reason.) This was an old school trade deadline. A clunker. A dud.

There were some rumors early in the day. There was a bit of talk surrounding the Bears dealing Taylor Gabriel – a player who has not been shy about sharing his understandable displeasure with the quarterback. (My unscientific estimate has Trubisky costing Gabriel about 200 yards and 2 touchdowns this season.) There was even a bit of talk about Ryan Pace possibly floating a late-round selection to Tennessee for Marcus Mariota – a player I don’t love but was a Pace favorite in the draft evaluation process. But Mariota’s contract rendered that borderline impossible.

The Bears didn’t make a move because there was no reason for the Bears to make a move. At 3-4, and with a quarterback who can’t play, the organization knows they are a longer than long shot to be playing football in January. With a stacked conference, ten wins may not be enough to make the playoffs. If that’s the case, the Bears would have to go 8-1 the rest of the way to be in the tournament. And let’s be honest, they’re very likely to lose this week. Who the hell would pick Mitch Trubisky to win on the road at this stage?

Also, trades at the deadline require unloading draft capital and the Bears don’t have much. The value picks they have in 2020 – two second round selections – may be necessary to navigate for Trubisky’s replacement come April. Either way, nobody would complain about the team flooding their offensive line with both of those selections in an effort to protect the veteran starter they’ll be signing in March.

The Bears didn’t get desperate yesterday because desperation is futile. The season is over. The team knows it. And now the focus shifts squarely onto whether Trubisky’s career is even remotely salvageable.

If the Chicago Bears think they are going to improve on their own this season, they’re going to fade into 2019 irrelevance, just as they have for most of the last 30 years.

There isn’t an easy fix for these Bears, but with the trade deadline coming next Tuesday, there are a pair of big moves that could get them back on track and save what was supposed to be a Super Bowl season. And, if they can’t pull those off, there’s a third move that could make the future at least a little brighter.

Trade for Nick Foles

He isn’t necessarily the franchise quarterback the fan base has been longing for, but he’s at least competent. Foles is very likely the best the Bears can do at quarterback for the rest of this season. He knows the offense and has excelled in it. He’d bring instant credibility to the offense and knows how to get the job done at the highest level.

The 30-year-old has been on IR since Week One, but he’s slated to begin practicing this week, opening up a 21-day window for activation. We don’t know when, exactly, he’d be ready, but he could return in Week 10. It has generally been reported that he won’t be eligible to play until Week 11 but that, presumably, is because the Jaguars have a Week 10 bye.

The Jaguars would have to eat a lot of money in order to trade Foles, but they’d still have to pay that money and then Foles’ salary in order to keep him. With rookie Gardner Minshew playing well (10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions) the Jaguars likely will want to move on from Foles at some point.

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Nothing ever happens at the NFL trade deadline but that doesn’t mean things SHOULDN’T happen. If the Giants aren’t planning to re-sign Hakeem Nicks, why wouldn’t they get what they can now? Same for the Vikings and Jared Allen. Tony Gonzalez is a good man and all but why does he want to finish his career on a dog team in Atlanta when Kansas City is desperate for a tight end?

So here is today’s debate topic. You’re Phil Emery and you can make one trade, one REALISTIC trade, what deal do you make? I will take the best answer from the comments and put it in the game preview later in the week.