After a disappointing 7-10 season, Chicago is back on the clock.
Since Chicago has secured the No.1 overall draft pick from Carolina in addition to their original No.9 overall pick, the question every Bear fan is thinking about this off-season is, Justin Fields or Caleb Williams?
After a mediocre season from Justin Fields, he put up just 2562 passing yards (22nd in NFL), along with 657 rushing yards, 9 interceptions (95th in NFL), 16 passing touchdowns (20th in NFL), and to pair it with a 46.2 QBR (23rd in NFL) although he missed three games, many think it’s time to move on and draft the generational prospect that is Caleb Williams.
University of Southern California Quarterback and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams announced that he will be declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft. Most NFL analysts state he’s the best player in the draft, and many consider him a generational talent. In his 2022 Heisman season, he led the entire college football league in passing touchdowns (42), yards per attempt, and yards per completion. He also finished with the 3rd most passing yards while throwing just 5 interceptions.
Currently, there’s a debate between Bears fans on which route to take. Whether it’s taking the route of Fields, who has more experience in the league now and has shown flashes of talent, or going for star rookie talent Caleb Williams.
“As a Packers fan, I’d love it if the Bears kept Fields. But if I had to choose what’s best for Chicago, it’s undoubtedly taking Caleb and trading Fields. If you think otherwise, you don’t know ball,” said longtime football fan senior Hardik Singhal. “Moving on from Fields and taking Caleb gets you a fresh rookie contract, a much better and less injury-prone quarterback, and a better future.”
The appeal to drafting a “generational QB” is very apparent to many Bears fans. The struggle to find a franchise quarterback has lingered in Chicago for a while now. Many see Caleb as the “out” for this problem in Chicago.
“There is nothing wrong with Justin Fields, he has great talent and will be a fine QB, but he has not been coached up correctly or put in the best situation to succeed and is too expensive after next year to take a chance on by keeping,” said staff member Scott Gilbert, who has been a fan of the Bears since 1970.
“The best thing to do is to trade Fields and draft Caleb Williams as he is a great talent and more of a prototype pocket passing QB and they don’t have to spend big dollars on him like Fields,” said Gilbert.
Loading ...Other individuals think Fields is a more than capable QB and that we need to draft a wide receiver to pair with DJ Moore in order to elevate the offense. This situation is possible since the Bears would trade down a pick or two while still being able to draft the star wide receiver that’s Marvin Harrison Jr (consensus WR1 in the upcoming draft from Ohio State University) while getting compensation for giving up the No.1 overall pick.
“I would take Justin Fields, based on what I’ve seen from the Bears in the past years. He has the potential to be great and it’s not worth the risk of taking another QB in the draft at this point,” said senior Ranuak Chahal, who grew up a Bears fan.
As the NFL 2024 Draft continues to approach the franchise, the decision on who to lead the Chicago Bears grows larger and larger. Either choice the Bears organization makes will impact the future success that many Bears fans need.
