CLEVELAND, OH – In one of the boldest moves in Cleveland on draft night, the Chicago Bears pulled the trigger by trading up for former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. The question that needs to be answered is, have the Bears finally found their franchise QB?
Founded in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys as one of the league’s charter franchises that oozes a long and storied tradition of Midwestern grit and big city toughness thanks to players such as Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary, as well as having the most wins of any NFL franchise and the most Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrines and retired jersey numbers, that Da Bears have never had a noteworthy quarterback.
From Sid Luckman to Jim McMahon, Chicago has been abysmal when it comes to quarterbacks. Almost pre-Baker Mayfield Cleveland Browns-level awful. Names such as Cade McCown, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomczak, Jay Cutler have lined up under center for the Monsters of the Midway and have been anything but that.
With general manager Ryan Pace’s job likely to be on the line this year after blowing the Mitchell Trubisky pick and seeing how the Bears could have had either—or both—Super Bowl and NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, its up to Fields to prove that Pace’s bold gamble in moving up nine spots to get him pays off.
With a quarterback room that now consists of Nick Foles and Andy Dalton, Fields may likely sit for the first half of the season to watch and learn, and if either Foles or Dalton struggles or fails to move the offense effectively, it’ll be Fields’ show in the Windy City.
Only time will tell if head coach Matt Nagy and the Bears give Fields the best chances to succeed in ending the Bears’ embarrassing seven-decade drought at QB, but in landing him, they’ve shown that they are ready for something fresh and new entirely.