Lets Check On The Bears
A few weeks ago when I made the McDiscourse comic I unfortunately forgot one very toxic source of chatter. The Bears. To be fair to me, this was toxic draft chatter. I purposefully limit as much exposure to the draft as I can until the season is completely over and I have no other choice, so I hadn’t been going into draft discussion spaces or Bears fan spaces and did not realize just how bad it has gotten.
Folks, it’s gotten really ugly. We have over two months left and it is maybe the worst I’ve seen a fanbase eat itself alive already, and I’ve witnessed the Daniel Jones infighting and fondly remember the famous “Draft Sewell or Chase” debate that Bengals fans ate each other over.
Obviously, the reason for this nonsense is the position the Bears have found themselves in for this draft. It’s kind of a no-lose but also no-win situation. Thanks to fleecing the Panthers last year the Bears now have the #1 pick and #9 pick. The top pick is presumably one of the biggest QB prospects in the past decade, up there with Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck. The Bears sit at one of the most interesting crossroads in franchise, maybe league history.
Trade Fields and draft Caleb or Keep Fields and trade the pick for a huge haul?
To get it right out of the way early my vote is trade Fields and draft Caleb but the situation is more complicated than that and there are a number of factors to consider for both sides, so let us look at the arguments.
TRADE FIELDS, DRAFT CALEB
-You get the new hotness! The rebuild can start fresh with the hottest prospect in town!
-You get to reset the clock on the QB rookie deal money window
-Whatever haul you get for Fields, presumably a mid-round pick
-You stick Caleb with a coach who might be a dead man walking. Fields was arguably partially ruined by a similar scenario by getting drafted for Matt Nagy only to watch Nagy get fired and trap Fields in the weird hell of Eberflus. If the Bears are bad next year (Always a good possibility) you might reset the development on Williams the same way and the team might waste Caleb’s cheap years floundering about like the Chargers did with Herbert.
-Caleb is, effectively, still an unproven player. Fields at least is known, and took steps forward at the end of last year and now has a new OC to work with who presumably isn’t going to be as stupid
KEEP FIELDS, TRADE THE PICK
-You will get an absolutely massive haul of picks to use for future drafts.
-You can still end up with a top QB prospect depending on who you trade with. A commanders trade would give you Drake Maye, and a Patriots or slightly lower trade could still land you Jayden Daniels (Or even Maye anyway, depending on how the draft season plays out)
-If you do get another QB prospect, you can still trade Fields for spare parts and essentially own the entire 2025 draft
-Keep consistency. Fields will have a new OC but keep the same head coach for the 3rd year, which is a big deal.
MYSTERY THIRD OPTION
-Draft JJ McCarthy and throw the draft into chaos
At this point, it feels like the pendulum is mostly chilling on the side of Trade Fields, Draft Caleb. Fields fans are mostly fighting a losing battle. He has not lived up to billing at all and mostly I think his fans don’t want to see him go elseware like Atlanta and immediately turn into the guy he was supposed to be all along, and then they ruin Caleb because Chicago is one of the lower circles of QB hell. I think there is probably a better chance they trade Fields AND trade the pick to move down a slot or two for a haul than keep Fields at all. Fields is very likely gone, and part of the now toxic discourse is trying to figure out where to. Fields unfollowed the Bears on Instagram, and, unfortunately, this is genuine news because now using social media follows is a genuine tell of intention and even sometimes a negotiation tactic. I hate everything.
We have over two months to have this debate and I would like to push my brain into a blender
Option C: Keep Fields AND the pick, draft MHJ.
no point in doing that. you’d trade back 1 spot to washington and take mhj if that’s the plan
Option 4: acquire Kirk Cousins and draft MHJr, then trade No. 9 down and get a QB like Penix.
I just need the Draft to start ASAP so I can stop seeing terrible fan Mock Drafts flooding my TL.
True chaos: trade both the pick -and- Fields
Additional Option #4: clone 12 copies of Mike Ditka a la Jurassic Park (maybe 13 in case one wanders off), and boom, instant superbowl. The 12 can even rotate which one is head coach.
If you’re the Bears, I think you have to take the opportunity to draft QB1. You don’t often get that opportunity. However….it may not matter (as you mentioned) because you’re drafting an unfinished product to a volatile situation. We’ve seen many times worse prospects go to better situations and thrive, while higher-ranked guys flounder because they can’t keep their heads above water. Look at TLaw with Urban vs Dougie P. Look at Mitch vs Mahomes. Put CJ Stroud on the Panthers last year and I doubt he performs eve remotely as well. A great surrounding cast can make development easier.
That’s why I secretly think they SHOULD bank on Fields and get a stud tackle and MHJ if they can. Then if Fields still fails, you’ve got enough capital still to trade up and get another top prospect while still maintaining a good young core for him to develop in. HOWEVER, I don’t know jack and I don’t get paid millions of dollars to make these assessments for a reason. So who knows!
Your last line is apt. I hate the sports media between the Superbowl and draft. Especially ESPN who refuses to acknowledge hockey so Sportscenter becomes just NBA and NFL draft talk. I try to drown it out and just watch the NHL.
As a Chicago resident I just want to give props on the excellent rendition of Sluggers, right down the to do not enter sign at the end of Eddy Street.
The history of Chicago QBs dictates that whatever the worst choice is that will blow up in the Bear’s organization’s faces, they will take that choice.
If Fields goes to Atlanta and wins the division, it’ll be hilarious.
It surprises me to no end the amount of fanfare Fields has despite being a worse QB than Trubisky who Chicago couldn’t wait to throw out.
Current prediction is keeping Fields, drafting a QB with 1 to sit at 3rd and hold a clipboard, and trading 9 down.
Bears own Fields’ final year and have this new QB waiting in the wings to learn about reading defenses, making timelier decisions with the ball, and stacking more bodies for the OL since Whitehair is gone and we need a Center.
Honestly I hope the Steelers get Feilds but both are good choices because both could go great or horribly wrong.
keep fields, draft caleb, have them alternate halves to start the season, then quarters, then drives, then downs. the playbook and calls should be totally different for each QB. max chaos. using the other picks, draft Maud’dib as an RB, who can find the narrow gate in the ensuing chaos. go 19-0 every year for ten thousand years until he acheives symbiosis with the sandworm that lives under soldier field.
I dunno. There hasn’t been a single person involved with this franchise in thew last decade with any water discipline.
I feel like the mystery third option is “keep Fields, draft Caleb, let them compete for the starting job.” Which tbh is where I stand