Jameis picking the brains of Bears coaches sold them on America’s Quarterback.

Months ago, when America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, was still working the wrinkles out of his Bucs practice jersey during rookie minicamp, Joe brought word that Jameis had a sitdown with cornerback Stephon Morris, who was a Bucs tryout player formerly with the Belicheats.

Jameis sat next to Morris, who never made it past that minicamp weekend, and peppered him with questions about what made Tom Brady great. Clearly, Jameis figured if Brady did something he was unaware of in practice, then it would be good enough for Jameis, too.

Well, it was this same mindset that convinced the Bears Jameis was the man to draft, if they ever had that opportunity.

At Halas Hall, the Bears’ headquarters in suburban Lake Forest, club officials gave Jameis the once-over. With new coach John Fox saddled with bratty Jay Cutler under an obscene, team-unfriendly contract, Cutler was hardly locked into his job long-term. Fox and the Bears thought if Lady Luck shined on them, perhaps there was a chance to get Jameis.

Jameis explained to the Bears in the interview that his off-field nonsense at Florida State was just that. But it was what Jameis did with Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase that convinced the Bears that Jameis was a special, special cat, reports Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

You see, Gase was the offensive coordinator with Fox in Denver when Peyton Manning arrived. Jameis knew this and like he did with Morris months later, Jameis began peppering Gase with questions about how Manning went about his work.

“When we talked football, this guy was in,” Gase said of Jameis. “He’s a football junkie. … And he was really inquisitive about some of the things, how (Manning) would have handled a few situations.”

Gase went on to tell Finley no other quarterback they interviewed ever asked about Manning. This convinced the Bears that Jameis was going to exhaust all efforts to get the most out of his talents.

The fact Jameis turned around his interview, and instead of selling himself was asking how Manning went about his work, it told the Bears all they needed to know about how serious of a football player Jameis is.