Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears Twitter Civil War was like nothing we had ever seen in sports social media. Fans of teams around the league would sit back with their popcorn GIFs and watch the Bears fan base tear themselves apart over one question: Should the Bears go with Justin Fields or Caleb Williams at quarterback?
This debate started in October when it was clear the Bears’ season was headed in the wrong direction, as was the season of the Carolina Panthers. The Bears held both their own and Carolina’s first-round picks, so the odds were growing exponentially that the Bears would have an excellent chance at landing a QB prospect with a big-time upside: Caleb Williams.
Some fans pivoted early, with fingers crossed that the first overall pick would end up in Chicago; others felt Fields was the future, and if that pick landed in Ryan Poles’ lap, that he needed to trade the pick for assets to build around Fields.
As the season ended, the Bears did indeed hold the first (and ninth) picks of the first round of the draft, and the debate about Fields and Williams only intensified.
In the end, of course, Ryan Poles kept the first overall pick, drafted Caleb Williams, and traded Justin Fields. We’ve also learned through various media reports that the debate wasn’t ever really about Fields or Williams; it was about Williams vs the other rookie quarterbacks, and Fields wasn’t as much of a consideration as many thought.
But let’s put that aside. Let’s say that Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus, and the staff said, “I think we can make something happen with Justin Fields. Let’s trade the first overall pick and build around Justin.”
What do the Chicago Bears look like now? We did a fan fiction as to how this would have played out.
First things first, we cannot trade the first overall pick and only pick up Justin Fields’ 5th year option. We need to extend Justin Fields and commit to him. We need free agents to know, this is Justin Fields’ team, join up, and let’s win together.
Based on where Fields was after his 2023 season, there’s no way he was in line for Trevor Lawrence-like money. You can say Trevor Lawrence shouldn’t have received Trevor Lawrence-like money, but that’s a different article. The quarterback contract you have to look at is Daniel Jones. Jones signed a 4-year, $160 million contract in March of 2023 with $82 million guaranteed. Figure one year later, Fields and the Bears could use this contract as a guide, with a slightly bigger number.
The Bears and Fields agree to a 4-year, $180 million contract. Jones got a little more than half of that guaranteed; figure similarly for Fields. Fields gets $95 million guaranteed with the Bears.
Now let’s clarify one thing with “the haul.” We need to be reasonable with what level of assets the trade would have secured. There was this idea that the Bears...
