The Bears have put a lot of pressure on their team this year after a influx of draft capital reiterates that no ones job is safe. Football is a sport full of life lessons and anecdotes. One of my personal favorites is short and sweet. There are two things in life you can control: your attitude and your effort. Effort isn’t something that eludes many professional athletes due to the pure incentive of their salary but effort can be a struggle for young men after they go through the grueling demands the league puts on them.
Bears QB isn’t Immune to Criticism
With this past off-season’s trade and the horrible spin of the Carolina Panthers, Chicago is once again looking straight ahead at a consecutive number one overall pick in the upcoming draft. While the team elected to stick with starting quarterback Justin Fields last spring, the team may elect to go with generational talent Caleb Williams at quarterback in the future. There has also been speculation that the Bears might do the same thing they did last year by trading away the first overall pick for a large bounty of draft capital and keep Fields. The only ones who know for sure are Head Coach Matt Eberflus and the front office of Chicago.
On Wednesday, a reporter asked Fields point blank what he thought regarding the uncertainty of where he stands in Chicago:
“I mean, life isn’t fair. I’m just focused on what I can control, and the rest is in God’s hands. Wherever, if I’m here next year, if I’m not, football doesn’t define who I am as a person. My happiness will still be in the same place, will still be in God.”
Fields has struggled to maintain a rhythm over eight starts this season for Chicago. Even as a scrambling quarterback, Fields has put up a respectable quarterback rating of 92.3. While Fields’ ability to provide explosiveness with his legs provides another facet to his game, it has made him trust his legs more than his arm offensively. This has kept him from building much confidence as a passer which led to the Bears having more of an attack through the air when they started backup quarterback Tyson Bagent during Fields’ injury.
Everyone in Chicago is perceiving the last five games of the season as the final straw for Justin Fields. If he performs well and the Bears close out the season on a high, Eberflus may decide to use Fields as a building block of the offense and draft elite wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to assist Fields’ development. There is no doubt this is an incredible amount of pressure to put on a 24-year-old young man. Aside from putting in tremendous effort on the field though, Fields has impressed many by his attitude throughout the season.
“I’ve had moments in my life to where I’ve wanted things to happen that didn’t go that way, and it ended up going another way and it worked out better than I ever could have imagined. That’s really why I just don’t stress about stuff that happens, and just controlling what I control and like I said earlier just being the best person I can be and striving to be the best player I can be.”
While not much has been easy for Chicago this season, it helps the fans swallow a difficult transitional period when your quarterback displays good leadership qualities. The Bears will look to improve next season and compete in a wide open AFC North.
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