Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace reignites the fan base by drafting Justin Fields

Well, the day has come. With much anticipation about what this draft would result in, we finally have an answer to who Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace think will improve the team most, and Justin Fields is that person.

Justin Fields is now the future quarterback of the Chicago Bears. The team made a trade with the Giants by swapping the 20th-overall pick, a 2021 fifth-round pick, 2022 first-rounder and 2022 fourth-rounder to move up to 11 and draft their future, hopefully, franchise quarterback.

Well, let’s just get this one out of the way: Hell yeah! The Bears can finally say that they have a quarterback that the world and fan base seem to be very hopeful of, which wasn’t necessarily the feeling last time something like this happened.

Justin Fields sat highly among the ranks as one of the best QB prospects of this draft, and even though he fell further than the likes of Trey Lance and Zach Wilson, that shouldn’t define what Justin Fields brings to a team and most importantly, an offense craving an identity.

Sorry, Andy Dalton… Nothing personal.

Now, was the trade up to No. 11 too rich? No, and let me tell you why. The Bears are in a situation where if they want to win some significant games, i.e. playoff games and eventually the big game, they don’t have much time to let players develop over time while keeping the core of their team together.

Nagy and Pace said with this pick that they’re trying to put this team in a situation to win now. That should be a good thing to see as a Bears fan; they’re not complacent with being mediocre, and I think this pick shows that.

And as someone on the fence about what Nagy and Pace were going to do this draft, I can confidently say that I’m excited to see how Nagy can work him into the offense that seemed to not fit their last high-first round quarterback.

Here is another reason that I’m all for trading first-round picks when it results in getting a guy like Justin Fields. Players want to play for a guy like Justin Fields more than they would a guy like Andy Dalton. That’s not a knock at Dalton, but an unbiased eye could see the reasoning behind that.

In a competitive free-agent market, things like that matter. Having a team that is one player or a couple of players away from being a legit contender is more enticing to a free agent than a team in the midst of a rebuild.

Thus, as an immediate reaction to this pick, before a single snap of Justin Fields’ career, there is a lot of reason to love this pick. Justin Fields seems to be the key to the identity that the Chicago Bears offense has been in need of for many years, and even with its large price tag, I believe it will be absolutely worth it.

Let’s go, Chicago Bears fans! Welcome to Chicago, Justin Fields!