It's Up To Us, Guys

It’s April 27th,, and I’m currently at work proctoring an ACT exam for the students that I regularly teach. Their heads are glued into the exams with a nervousness that shows as their eyes dart from answer to answer. Yet, despite this nervousness, in the back of all their minds is an important thought: how will this affect my future? 

It's a defining Saturday—a day of reckoning not only for my students, absorbed in the decisive moments that will shape their future, but also for the Chicago Bears, who last week stood at a moment in time where the entire franchise could change. 

In the focused silence of this exam room, I see an echo of the Bears' past season—weeks marked by hopes of evolution and dominance yet mired in the marsh of outdated tactics and underperformance. Just as my students grapple with questions that will mild their academic futures, the Bears' recent choices in the 2024 NFL Draft have been a test of strategy and foresight, leaving fans yearning for a revolution in the team's circumstances.

How did we reach this point in time? Let's revisit the day of December 31st, 2023. On The Carolina Panthers lost 26-0 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, plummeting to a god awful 2-14 record, which secured them the No. 1 pick. Due to a trade that delivered the Panthers the young quarterback, Bryce Young, the #1 pick in the 2024 draft belonged to Chicago and the Bears found themselves with the chance to make a potentially franchise altering decision. 

The choice was between “a rock and a hard place”: you stick with starter Justin Fields, whose playmaking and passing abilities were starting to develop into the player that fans had been dreaming of or you reset the “quarterback clock” by potentially acquiring Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams out of the University of Southern California. 

Such decisions, fraught with the need for change, divided the fanbase, media, and outsiders alike. Some, including myself, believed that Fields was on the cusp of being “a guy”. The desire that fans had envisioned upon him when he was drafted to the Bears. Yet, others contended that too much time had elapsed, and a fresh face was needed to lead the team.

Now, let’s fast forward to March 16th, 2024. On this day, Chicago Bears have embraced a new chapter. Justin Fields, who was once considered the cornerstone of this franchise, has been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a movie that signaled that the Bears were ready for a new start. It’s a shift that feels familiar, akin to the nervous anticipation my students face with their ACTs—where they face a mixture of apprehension and the weight of potentially promising future. 

The Bears history since the lauded 1985 Super Bowl winning season has been a tumultuous one, often falling short of fans (sometimes unreasonably) high expectations. To cope with this knowledge, some fans have elected to remain paranoid of the possibility of future disaster as the errors of the Bears past envelop their minds. 

On the opposite end of the coping spectrum, there's a faction of the fanbase that see a franchise reborn, unburdened by the echoes of past failures and disappointments. I find myself in the middle, not oblivious to the errors of the past but filled with a reasonable hope of a bright future.

This hope has come not in the belief that every player will be a star but in the decisions made by Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. His tenure, while not perfect, has been marked by patient and strategic decisions—from bolstering the defense with talents like Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker to savvy acquisitions in DJ Moore, Montez Sweat, and Keenan Allen.

This bolstering culminated on April 25th, 2024 with the drafting #1 pick Caleb Williams and the selection of the 9th pick in Rome Odunze out of the University of Washington. Calculated moves such as these paint a portrait of an organization not just dreaming of greatness, but laying its groundwork. This moment in time leads me to following question for fans of the navy & orange: When do we let go of the fear of past failures and embrace the potential of a new era? 

The Bears, reflective of my students' earnest approach to taking the ACT, have approached the future with determination and thorough preparation. The only action left for both of them is to await the results with a hopeful anticipation.