The Chicago Bears are the talk of the NFL after the complete misfunction of the Carolina Panthers has led to back-to-back number one overall picks for the Windy City. Not only that, but Chicago showed tremendous promise late last season after they finished 5-3 in the final half of the 2024 season. For a rising team with tremendous draft capital, there should be a well established game plan for the city of Chicago at this point.
Bears Expected to Make Poor Choice in 2024 NFL Draft
In typical fashion for the city of Chicago, they can’t even just enjoy the magnificent position that they’ve found themselves in. After drifting from one position to another, it currently appears that Chicago is going to make another leap of faith and take prodigal quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams appears to be one of the best quarterback prospects to emerge from college football over the past few years but his selection would end the Justin Fields chapter in Chicago somewhat abruptly.
Fields has showed signs of greatness as his scrambling ability is amongst the best in the NFL but his passing prowess has failed to develop during his time in the Windy City. Fields finished last season with a quarterback rating of 86.3 which was 28th in the NFL amongst starting quarterbacks. The problem is that you have to balance out and take a full assessment of both passing and rushing which gives Fields an adequate score considering the lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball.
The biggest problem is that with Williams’ reputation, Chicago could certainly generate an auction for the first overall pick and cash in massively on the demand. After they were able to steal the first round pick last year with a similar maneuver to the Panthers, making a similar move seems like a no brainer in order to generate an elite roster of first round talent. For example, to prevent other teams from trading up, Chicago could trade down with either Washington or New England, draft generational talent wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and stockpile more draft capital for the future.
Another major issue with the current plan is that Williams has already shown major character flaws that are undesirable in a franchise quarterback. For one, there has been conversation by he and his father that he doesn’t want to play in Chicago with the team’s poor recent history. While lots of young quarterbacks have vocalized skepticism about playing on struggling teams, it shows a level of immaturity that will make hte transition to the professional game that much harder for the prodigy.
The best top 5 quarterbacks over the past few years (for example Joe Burrow and C.J. Stroud) never complained about where they ended up even after they went to historically dysfunctional franchises. That simply is not a leadership trait that teams want in a franchise quarterback and even though Fields isn’t necessarily an All-Pro, he appears to possess solid leadership skills. It would be wise of Chicago to continue to build on their roster rather than gamble their future on a head case.
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