The Chicago Bears will have to make a significant decision soon. Chicago owns the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and it’s quite a year to need a quarterback. Caleb Williams has been the consensus top choice to go first overall. But the Bears, of course, have a quarterback: Justin Fields.
For virtually the entire season, Bear fans and pundits were at odds over Fields and his quarterback abilities. There was that brief but still very weird time period where pundits propped backup quarterback Tyson Bagent up. All due respect to Bagent, but that felt absurd then, and it still does now.
But the debate between Fields and Williams raged on throughout the entire season. And it appears that now, since the season is over, the debate isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s even been encouraged.
Chicago radio station 670 The Score announced something intriguing on Monday. The station announced that The Parkins & Spiegel Show will host a “QB1 Town Hall” for Bear fans to attend.
“Listen to the show this week and have a chance to win your way in and have YOUR voice heard on the QB1 debate during the Town Hall!” they posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
🚨 NEXT WEDNESDAY! 🚨@ParkinsSpiegel's show is hosting a QB1 Town Hall, live from 2-6 pm at our Blue Cross Blue Shield Performance Stage!
Listen to their show this week to have a chance to win your way in and have YOUR voice heard 🗣️ on the QB1 debate during the Town Hall! pic.twitter.com/mH4fH2A3xA
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) February 12, 2024
“Embracing debate” has always had its pros and cons, but this? This might be doing too much. Others appeared to agree that this might be an ill-advised decision.
Are you tired of reading the same old tweets from enraged Bears fans about Caleb Williams and Justin Fields??
Now you can WATCH and LISTEN to them instead! https://t.co/EupXAt9Udn
— Brendan Sugrue (@BrendanSugrue) February 13, 2024
[caleb's camp]: actually we don't want to come here that was accurate https://t.co/0VD7LrGv6U
— cam ellis (@KingsleyEllis) February 13, 2024
is everyone OK? https://t.co/9vOuMnjDcZ
— Robert O'Neill (@RobertONeill31) February 13, 2024
About time somebody put the Bears QB debate on the front burner! https://t.co/avf90p3XyY
— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) February 13, 2024
This is nasty. Chicago media has been disgusting all offseason https://t.co/Ly8KSHeZGd
— I’m Just a Fan, Not a Football Evaluator (@CNN_90) February 13, 2024
https://twitter.com/FieldsIsHim/status/1757517618330693734
i need it to be late april https://t.co/d5bgymlWbr
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) February 13, 2024
Lol this is embarrassing. Why I will always listen to ESPN 1000 https://t.co/mMtYjctBmZ
— Cole Gross (@CGross23) February 13, 2024
To understand why people have felt a way about this all year, you must understand what Bears fans have been and have gone through. Let’s play it straight: Erik Kramer set the record for most passing touchdowns for a Bears quarterback with 29 in 1994. They’ve never had a season where a quarterback’s thrown for 30 touchdowns or more. Frustration and resentment towards quarterbacks are as much a part of being a Bears fan as hating the Green Bay Packers is. It’s more challenging to gauge because the Bears haven’t had an All-Pro at the position since Sid Luckman.
But outside of that, is this really necessary? The fanbase has dealt with a significant divide on this for over a year. Heck, in some cases, since Fields first took the field. Amplifying that debate, putting it out full frontal, and letting any Tom, Dick, or Harry comment on the matter is a shortsighted decision that might only exacerbate that divide. That doesn’t even get into how the players, or even Caleb Williams, might feel about it.
