If there was ever a Chicago Bears quarterback who was greeted by Bears fans as the One True King, it was Justin Fields. The 2021 NFL Draft offered hope at a position the Bears have never been able to figure out.
But here we are, entering Week 16 of Fields' third season, and it still seems like Chicago ... hasn't figured it out.
It's become abundantly clear that Fields is not the future. Maybe he could have been if drafted into a better situation. Maybe another year would do him some good. If the Bears didn't have the rights to the Carolina Panthers' first-round pick in the 2024 draft, a pick that is currently in line to be the first overall, then I wouldn't entertain the idea of the Chicago Bears moving on from Fields; he's not a total bust, and I could see a way a team could build around him.
But the Bears do, in fact, have that extra first-round pick, and it's virtually a lock to be no worse than second overall in a draft with two quarterbacks who have been adored by scouts and NFL executives for months now.
Justin Fields had a chance to play well enough to convince the Bears that they don't need one of these prospects, but inconsistency and another significant injury earlier this season have seemingly doomed him.
So, in this 2024 NFL Mock Draft, the Bears make sweeping changes.
Matt Eberflus? Gone.
Luke Getsy? Gone.
Justin Fields? Yep, he's gone too.
Let's see what a three-round mock draft would look like in a reboot year.
1.01 (via CAR) Caleb Williams - Quarterback, USC
After the 2022 college football season, the hype train for Williams got a little out of control. Some fans and analysts described him as a better version of Patrick Mahomes. It was all a bit over the top, and a less successful 2023 season brought those expectations down to a much more reasonable range.
That's where the good news kicks in. That reasonable range of expectations for Williams is still insanely high. He's a playmaker in the truest sense of the word.
Over the last three years, Wiliams has stuffed the stat sheet to the gills, racking up 10,082 passing yards for an average of 9.2 yards per attempt, completing 67% of his passes. His touchdown-to-interception ratio, 93 to 14, is simply absurd. Add to that his 960 yards and 27 touchdowns on the ground, and you get a prospect as exciting as anyone since Andrew Luck.
Williams isn't perfect, and there are some elements to his game that rub some the wrong way. Some of his drawbacks are the same exact flaws we see in Fields, namely, holding the ball too long. But the big difference between Fields and Williams comes down to mechanics. Even now, three years into his NFL career, Fields' throwing motion is a bit loopy and slow, and too often, that lets defensive backs adjust to the ball.
With Williams, his throwing motion is unbelievable; the ball explodes out of his hand like a bullet almost before you even realize he's started to throw. Arm talent like that can and does bail him out of trouble.
He's not the generational prospect he was hyped up to be at this time last year, and he's not a sure thing, but if the Chicago Bears get the first overall pick, drafting Williams is a no-brainer.
1.05 Malik Nabers - Receivers, LSU
Another flaw on the Bears' current roster that has been exposed this year is depth at wide receiver. DJ Moore has been an absolute stud, arguably the best receiver Chicago's ever had. But after him, things get murky.
Chase Claypool is already out of town, Darnell Mooney is regressing, and the rest of the wide receiver room is a jumble of mid-to-late draft picks and bargain-bin free agents.
The Bears need another dominant receiver to pair with Moore, and luckily for them, Marvin Harrison Jr. is not the only elite prospect in this draft.
Nabers is the 1b to Harrison's 1a. Harrison is truly a generational prospect, which sets him above Nabers. But Nabers is no consolation prize.
Voted a unanimous All-American and First Team All-SEC in 2023, the six-foot, 200-pound receiver put up some of the best numbers in college football this year and rocketed up draft rankings: 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns on 86 receptions.
Yeah, I think Nabers will pair up nicely with Moore and give the Bears the kind of 1-2 punch at wide receiver they haven't seen since Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery.
3.72 Sedrick Van Pran - Center, Georgia
The Bears badly need a starting center. Veteran Lucas Patrick has been okay but is far too inconsistent and not up to stopping a determined pass rush like the Cleveland Browns in Week 15.
Enter Van Pran.
A starter for Georgia's back-to-back national championship squads, he was just awarded the SEC Jacobs Blocking Trophy in 2023, given to the best blocker in the conference. Built like a wrecking ball at six-foot-four and 310 pounds, that's precisely how Van Pran plays.
He's strong with powerful hands and good technique. He displays above-average athleticism, and he's a cerebral player, too. Van Pran is the kind of center scouts call a 'quarterback of the offensive line.' He reads the defense before the snap and helps his quarterback make adjustments.
I don't know if he'll fall this far in the draft. He could come off the board in the second round. But if he's available when the Chicago Bears are on the clock in the third round, he, like Caleb Williams and Malik Nabers, is another no-brainer.
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