Dear diary,
I try not to fall victim to confirmation bias, but tweets like this make me so happy that I’m a Bears fan. I said it a hundred times before, and I’ll say it again, the consensus all of last college football season was that Justin Fields would be the second overall pick behind Trevor Lawrence. And then things changed, for absolutely no reason. And now the Bears have one of two rookie quarterbacks with two wins under his belt — the other being New England’s Mac Jones. That's right, my dearest diary, the Bears have won two weeks in a row, and they did it with a beautiful young man wheeling and dealing his way to a victory in Sin City, where he out-dueled Derek Carr, a top-12 quarterback in the league.
Fields may not have thrown for 300 yards and 3 TDs yesterday, but he threw the first passing touchdown of his career. It went to Jesper Horsted, and it was a perfectly placed ball on a red zone conversion. He zipped this fucker into a nonexistent window, and then took a moment to himself to do a little, "Come here," motion with his fingers, as if he was telling the entire city of Chicago, "Come here baby girl, I got you. As long as you're in my hands, you're going to be just fine."
He’s made difficult throws like this one look routine, and he hasn't only flashed moments of brilliance like his contemporaries, but he's sustaining a ridiculous level of efficiency, unlike his draft class peers. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for us. We’ve waited a long time for not just a Chicago Bears quarterback to thrive, but for an Ohio State quarterback to pan out. Braxton Miller, Troy Smith, Dwayne Haskins, Terrelle Pryor, J.T. Barret, the list goes on. Justin’s breaking two curses at once with remarkable grace for a 22-year old dude. Bill Lazor has put him in positions to win, so that’s what he’s done. Two weeks in a row.
The defense looked formidable once again, with a stifling pass rush and above-average play in the secondary despite some weaknesses at that part of the depth chart. But the front-seven is where we've really looked disarming. In case you weren't aware, Khalil Mack is fully back. He looks like a fucking force and has recorded six sacks in five weeks, and his brilliance is only helping the young guys like Bilal Nichols and Trevis Gipson out.
For the first time in my life, it looks like the Bears are starting to put something special together for their future. This isn't a team that's relying on a defense with a life expectancy. Nor is it a team that's confused on what their quarterback situation is going to be two years from now. It's becoming a franchise with a future that's looking much brighter much quicker than anticipated. It's startling when you think about where we're at now versus where we were after Week 3 against the Browns. But hey, we're here. The rain's starting to fall down and the Packers are our next opponent. Will the rise of Justin Fields perfectly coincide with the fall of Aaron Rodgers? Probably not. But it feels like this game's at least going to be intensely competitive, which is all we can ask for out of these guys right now. Just compete.
Sincerely,
The Guy Who's Shipping Khalil Mack and Derek Carr in His Quarterback Fan Fiction Literature
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