• An all-but-certain decision looms if the Bears secure the No. 1 pick: USC's Caleb Williams is the consensus top 2024 quarterback prospect as things stand.
• What's next for Justin Fields if Chicago picks Williams? A backup role with the Bears or elsewhere could help Fields focus on honing his craft.
• Take a swing at a Chicago Bears mock draft: Trade picks and players and mock for your favorite NFL team using PFF's mock draft simulator.
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
For the first time this season, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields showed signs of life. But his contributions to a blown 28-7 lead in Week 4 to the Denver Broncos ultimately led to yet another defeat and consigned the Bears to an 0-4 start.
Chicago now owns the draft pick associated with both 0-4 starts, either one of which would earn the No. 1 pick in the draft around 75% of the time in any given season. Skipping to the end of the page, Chicago seems destined to secure the No. 1 overall selection in the draft, which puts them in position to select USC’s Caleb Williams, the consensus top quarterback potentially available.
But where does that leave Justin Fields, a player who just months ago was fully endorsed by the team as their quarterback when they traded out of the No. 1 pick in the draft to build around him rather than draft his replacement?
The first point is obvious: Fields is done in Chicago once they make the call to draft the next guy.
Nobody wants the previous future hanging around, looming over the shoulder of the new golden child.
The next question is whether Fields can start anywhere else. A quick glance at the rest of the league would suggest that’s unlikely, barring some significant movement at the quarterback position and a team being left without a chair when the music stops.
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