Opinion | Justin Fields will be the next great Bears quarterback
Braeden Lueken, Staff Writer
I was so excited the Chicago Bears had drafted Justin Fields as their next quarterback that on the eve of the NFL Draft, I sent Fields the following message over Instagram:
“Hey bro, next time you find yourself in (Orange County) we can play some catch. Hope you’re enjoying all the hype. You’ve earned it.”
When I started playing fantasy football in my sophomore year of high school, I decided that I ought to decide once and for all what my favorite team was. It would simply make things more interesting, I thought.
So, I chose the Chicago Bears. Being from California, the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders felt like they were too obvious of a choice, but I had family from Chicago and its suburbs. At first, I was a fan of the team by name alone. I liked that they were simply called the “Bears.” That was it. But as I grew to know the team, its coaches and its history, I was hooked. Now I’m even more hooked after Fields was drafted.
With a 100-plus-year history and little recent (and historical) success from the quarterback position, I’m ecstatic at the prospect of the Bears landing a man that could turn out to be the best quarterback in franchise history. In the same past 29 years that our bitter rival Green Bay Packers have had two Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks in Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, the Bears have trotted out 33 different players at the same position.
All have come and gone. This time, though, one might stick. Fields is the future.
Fields, who put up eye-popping stats at his alma mater of Ohio State University, was projected to go within the first five picks of the draft. Yet as the night progressed, he began to fall. My Bears had traded spots with the New York Giants and were on the clock with the 11th pick. As I watched in my room, a few Miller Lites deep — the beer sponsor of the Chicago Bears — I felt excitement creep in at the prospect of landing such an incredible player. But with the team’s recent signing of veteran quarterback Andy Dalton this offseason, my hopes were tempered that they might opt for an offensive tackle or defensive piece.
When Fields was called as the choice, I was elated. We haven’t had the best luck with drafting signal-callers. But snagging Fields as a huge steal feels like a complete 180-degree turn compared to 2017, when the same Bears team traded up a draft position to draft Mitchell Trubisky from the University of North Carolina.
For context, in 2016, the Bears had just endured a full season of Matt Barkley. Don’t know who that is? You don’t need to. So the Bears selected Trubisky to be their franchise leader, and he’s been monumentally disappointing. But now, at long last, we’ve found our guy.
At Ohio State, Fields led the Big Ten conference in passing yards, passing touchdowns and passer efficiency rating in both 2019 and 2020. He’s got leadership pedigree on a big stage, taking the Buckeyes to a College Football Playoff National Championship earlier this year, and to top it off was a 2019 Heisman Trophy finalist.
Under Dalton, a steady option, Fields will get to learn the ropes of the NFL in his first season instead of being thrown into the fire right away. Will he be a better quarterback than Trubisky? Did my Bears make the right decision? Only time will tell.
But for now, I’m just happy that the team made an effort at the quarterback position. They didn’t try to outsmart anyone, and they got a guy who embodies Chicago football: he’s tough, he’s a hard worker and he cares about his team. Fields can eventually dethrone Rodgers in the Bears-Packers rivalry. Until that day, though, I’m simply happy to have him on my team.
Hey, maybe one day he’ll read my messages and we’ll have that game of catch. That would just be icing on the cake.