By: Sean Foster; Health and Wellness; 2025

Everybody loves Justin Fields and how hard he worked for the Chicago Bears during his time with the organization. As a Bears fan, I wanted him to stay too. However, after watching Patrick Mahomes win his 3rd Super Bowl since becoming Kansas City’s starting quarterback, it is obvious that the key to success in today’s NFL is having a franchise quarterback.

Through Justin Fields’ first 3 seasons for the Chicago Bears, he has thrown for just over 6,500 yards, 40 TD, and 30 interceptions. He has also added 2,200 yards and 14 rushing TD during that span. Every Bears fan thought Fields was going to come out and be the first 4,000 yard passer in the franchise’s history, but we were severely let down as the season went on and this Bears team, led by Justin Fields, failed to show the promise everyone hoped for on the offensive side of the ball. It is now important to bring up the fact that the Bears, because of their trade with the Panthers last offseason, own the number one pick in the 2024 draft and have the chance to take a quarterback prospect that many believe to be the best since Andrew Luck. I mean, just watch what Caleb Williams can do.

Williams can make throws that some NFL quarterbacks could only wish to make. His combination of speed, athleticism, vision, and improvisation skills that teams pray to get out of a franchise quarterback, lead many to believe that he is the most generational quarterback we have seen in a very long time. Not only is Caleb Williams one of the most talented quarterbacks we have seen in recent years, but he is also coming into a situation that very few quarterbacks in recent memory have had the benefit of. No quarterback in recent memory has had the luxury of the weapons that Caleb Williams would have were the Bears to draft him. Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, D’Andre Swift, and Cole Kmet on the same offense with the rookie quarterback would be something that defenses would have to fear.

Every Chicago Bears fan remembers the night of the 2017 NFL draft where the front office made the decision to trade up and draft Mitchell Trubisky, but it did not hurt until everybody saw what Patrick Mahomes could do. However, Patrick Mahomes was drafted into a perfect situation for his development with offensive guru Andy Reid and experienced veteran Alex Smith already in Kansas City to assist in his development. Caleb Williams will be one of the only Bears quarterbacks ever to be drafted in to such a beneficial situation.

After a long offseason filled with wonder and confusion as to what the Bears will end up doing with their two top-10 picks and their inherent quarterback dilemma. They have finally made the decision to trade Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional 6th-round pick which solidifies the decision that they have made to change their quarterback, reset their quarterback contract clock, and allow Caleb Williams to develop with the talent they have finally surrounded their quarterback with.

No, it is not ALL Justin Fields’ fault that this is the way his time in Chicago has ended, but he did not do anything that gave the Bears organization any reason to keep him over such a strong prospect like Caleb Williams. Throughout what was supposed to be a breakout season for Fields, we saw the same rookie mistakes that we had seen the last two seasons as well. Missed touchdown passes, holding the ball too long, lack of in-game awareness and indecision plagued his time in Chicago, but we all hope Fields can learn from Russel Wilson in Pittsburgh. After all, he did show a vast amount of promise, just never showed the signs of development all of Chicago had hoped for.

At the end of the day, it was time for the Chicago Bears and Justin Fields to move on from one another so the other could succeed. Caleb Williams is now the likely future of the Chicago Bears