NFL draft winners and losers: Chicago Bears gave their fans hope with great Justin Fields pick
The Chicago Bears started the night with the 20th pick and Andy Dalton as their QB1.
By the end of the night, they made an aggressive trade for a pick that energized the fan base and provided new hope at quarterback.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who for much of last season was considered a favorite to go No. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence, is the Bears’ new QB1. The Bears traded up when Fields fell to No. 11. The Bears traded No. 20, a fifth-rounder this year and 2022 first- and fourth-round picks to move up. That’s not cheap. But it might be well worth it.
In the moment, everything about the Fields move is a positive. It gives GM Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy a real chance to save their jobs with a big season, or at least something positive for the future. It gives Bears fans hope where there wasn’t much before Thursday night. And while Fields was probably disappointed to fall out of the top 10, he lands with a franchise that is dying for a star at quarterback.
The Bears’ quarterback history is miserable. The Bears’ last first-team All-Pro quarterback was Johnny Lujack in 1950. He threw four touchdowns and 21 interceptions that season. Since 1963, three seasons before the first Super Bowl, the Bears’ only Pro Bowl quarterbacks have been Jim McMahon (1985) and Mitchell Trubisky (2018).
It’s hard to be that bad at quarterback over almost 60 years. Fields has a chance to change that history.
Fields isn’t a perfect prospect, or he wouldn’t have slipped past teams like the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. But there’s a lot to like. He’s tough, athletic and has a great arm. He has the accuracy that NFL evaluators look for. He was very productive at a big-time program.
Fields could end up making some teams look really bad for passing him (Broncos, we’re looking at you … more on them later). There’s no reason, based on how well Fields played with the Buckeyes, to believe he’ll be a bust.
That said, first-round picks come up short all the time. Maybe Fields will be another Trubisky, Cade McNown or Rex Grossman. But it’s a move the Bears had to make and there was no guarantee they’d be able to make it on Thursday night. It worked out perfectly for them. Fields fell further than he probably should have. The Bears found a team willing to deal and weren’t usurped by anyone else calling with a better offer.
If you had told Bears fans, basically anytime over the past year, that they would make the playoffs last season and still land Fields, they’d have been ecstatic. That was their reaction on Thursday night too, and rightfully so. Maybe Fields is finally the guy who becomes a star at quarterback for the Bears. You should be able to hit one every six decades or so.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from day one of the NFL draft:
Jacksonville Jaguars: Because there was so much drama involved with this draft, the Jaguars making one of the best (and admittedly, easiest) picks in many years came and went without much fanfare.
But for all the words that will be said about the more buzzy picks on Thursday night, nobody improved like the Jaguars.
Trevor Lawrence is a rare quarterback prospect. He’s in the Joe Namath, John Elway, Andrew Luck tier of prospects. That doesn’t mean he’ll have a Hall of Fame career. But he has a better chance than most draftees.
Just because the pick has been known since the moment the Jaguars landed the first overall selection, let’s not just gloss over that the Jaguars were the biggest winners of the draft.
NFL draft winners and losers: Chicago Bears gave their fans hope with great Justin Fields pick
Frank Schwab
Chicago Bears
Justin Fields
The Chicago Bears started the night with the 20th pick and Andy Dalton as their QB1.
By the end of the night, they made an aggressive trade for a pick that energized the fan base and provided new hope at quarterback.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who for much of last season was considered a favorite to go No. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence, is the Bears’ new QB1. The Bears traded up when Fields fell to No. 11. The Bears traded No. 20, a fifth-rounder this year and 2022 first- and fourth-round picks to move up. That’s not cheap. But it might be well worth it.
In the moment, everything about the Fields move is a positive. It gives GM Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy a real chance to save their jobs with a big season, or at least something positive for the future. It gives Bears fans hope where there wasn’t much before Thursday night. And while Fields was probably disappointed to fall out of the top 10, he lands with a franchise that is dying for a star at quarterback.
The Bears’ quarterback history is miserable. The Bears’ last first-team All-Pro quarterback was Johnny Lujack in 1950. He threw four touchdowns and 21 interceptions that season. Since 1963, three seasons before the first Super Bowl, the Bears’ only Pro Bowl quarterbacks have been Jim McMahon (1985) and Mitchell Trubisky (2018).
It’s hard to be that bad at quarterback over almost 60 years. Fields has a chance to change that history.
Fields isn’t a perfect prospect, or he wouldn’t have slipped past teams like the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. But there’s a lot to like. He’s tough, athletic and has a great arm. He has the accuracy that NFL evaluators look for. He was very productive at a big-time program.
Fields could end up making some teams look really bad for passing him (Broncos, we’re looking at you … more on them later). There’s no reason, based on how well Fields played with the Buckeyes, to believe he’ll be a bust.
That said, first-round picks come up short all the time. Maybe Fields will be another Trubisky, Cade McNown or Rex Grossman. But it’s a move the Bears had to make and there was no guarantee they’d be able to make it on Thursday night. It worked out perfectly for them. Fields fell further than he probably should have. The Bears found a team willing to deal and weren’t usurped by anyone else calling with a better offer.
If you had told Bears fans, basically anytime over the past year, that they would make the playoffs last season and still land Fields, they’d have been ecstatic. That was their reaction on Thursday night too, and rightfully so. Maybe Fields is finally the guy who becomes a star at quarterback for the Bears. You should be able to hit one every six decades or so.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields landed with the Chicago Bears. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from day one of the NFL draft:
Jacksonville Jaguars: Because there was so much drama involved with this draft, the Jaguars making one of the best (and admittedly, easiest) picks in many years came and went without much fanfare.
But for all the words that will be said about the more buzzy picks on Thursday night, nobody improved like the Jaguars.
Trevor Lawrence is a rare quarterback prospect. He’s in the Joe Namath, John Elway, Andrew Luck tier of prospects. That doesn’t mean he’ll have a Hall of Fame career. But he has a better chance than most draftees.
Just because the pick has been known since the moment the Jaguars landed the first overall selection, let’s not just gloss over that the Jaguars were the biggest winners of the draft.
Bill Belichick: Don’t buy all the anti-Mac Jones rhetoric. That came after the reports that the 49ers might draft him at No. 3. And it made sense; Jones never profiled as a top-three pick.
But No. 15? To a team that didn’t have a real answer at quarterback and didn’t have to move up to get one? That’s a winner.
Belichick often seems to have good fortune land in his lap, and that’s one reason fans don’t like him. And it happened again.
Jones is a great fit for the Patriots offense. He doesn’t have an amazing upside, but he can process quickly and operate an offense at a high level. He’s a good NFL prospect. Jones isn’t Tom Brady and is very, very unlikely to be anywhere close, but stylistically they are similar. The Patriots will get the most out of Jones. He didn’t go third but he landed in a perfect spot for his skill set.
And Belichick got his quarterback in the middle of the first round without having to trade up. That’s a pretty good night.
San Francisco 49ers: No matter how multiple prominent NFL reporters got word that the 49ers were eyeing Mac Jones with the third pick, the 49ers didn’t go that route.
49ers fans can relax.
The 49ers took North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance, who is a better prospect than Jones. He has a huge upside in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Jones might end up being the better NFL player, but at this moment you’d bet on Lance over Jones.
If Lance comes along quickly, the 49ers could be a contender. They were in the Super Bowl in 2019, then had a horribly unlucky season with injuries and COVID-19 issues in 2020. There’s no reason they can’t be one of the NFL’s best teams again in 2021. Lance will help them get there. It could end up being a phenomenal pick, even if San Francisco kept everyone in suspense until it was made.
