Oh, what a difference a quarterback makes.
After a typically awkward and conflicting end-of-season press conference in January in which the Bears patted themselves on the back for climbing out of a hole they dug to make the playoffs at 8-8 after losing six straight games, many Bears fans were in an all-too typically awkward and conflicting position: rooting for failure in 2021 to elicit regime change.
Then came draft night.
Bears general manager Ryan Pace’s trade to move up from 20th to 11th in the first round and select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields changed everything.