Chicago Bears ready to ‘right the wrongs’ with QB Justin Fields
By Tommy Jaggi
The Chicago Bears are ready to fix their mistakes when it comes to past quarterbacks with their first-round pick, Justin Fields.
The Bears aren’t like a lot of other NFL teams. While they have a storied history filled with some of the best defenses the league has ever seen, they don’t have a long list of great quarterbacks in their history that dates all the way back to 1920.
Over the past 20 years, Chicago has suffered through rough quarterback performances from players like Jim Miller, Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman, and Matt Barkley – often times playing as many as 4 different quarterbacks in the same season over this stretch. Despite his high interception rate, Jay Cutler is still considered to be one of the best quarterbacks the team ever had, and the Bears didn’t even draft him.
However, what has really had Bears fans down over the past five years is knowing that they made a colossal mistake in the 2017 NFL Draft. General Manager Ryan Pace not only took the wrong quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky, but he traded up one spot from the 3rd pick to the 2nd pick just to make sure they landed him. By doing so, they missed out on both Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
Justin Fields could make Bears fans forget Mitch Trubisky
Surprisingly, the Chicago Bears have stuck with Ryan Pace all through this time, and after building a quality roster, the general manager has a chance to right the wrongs of the past. The Bears initially had the 20th overall pick in the NFL Draft, but when Justin Fields started to slip outside of the top ten, Pace made a decision that could go down as one of the all-time greatest for this franchise.
Fields was a remarkable prospect even back in his high school days. The consensus 5-star recruit was one of the best dual-threat prospects we have ever seen at the position, and he continued to hold that reputation during his time at Ohio State.
After passing for 67 touchdowns and just 9 interceptions over the past three years (in addition to adding 1,133 yards and 19 scores on the ground), Fields somehow managed to fall to the 11th pick in the NFL Draft this year. At that time, Pace could wait no longer. He aggressively moved up to grab the new face of the franchise.
Justin Fields might offer more tools than any passer the Chicago Bears have had in their lengthy history. Fields was my number two overall prospect this year – above fellow quarterbacks Zach Wilson and Trey Lance – and the Bears getting him with the 11th overall pick was the best-value selection in the draft.
With an offense that ranked 23rd in points and 28th in offensive yardage last season, according to Team Rankings, Chicago will have some growing pains on this side of the ball and they may want to consider starting Andy Dalton until Fields gets his feet wet. Still, I have little doubts that the young quarterback is going to find a way to succeed.
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The Chicago Bears are a team that might be just a quarterback away from competing for championships on a regular basis. Justin Fields will give Ryan Pace and the team a chance to right the wrongs of the past.