Is it too early to start tracking where the Chicago Bears pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft? Perhaps. But after beginning the 2023 season with two losses and storm clouds hovering over Halas Hall, we might as well look ahead at what could be an exciting 2024 NFL draft season for Bears fans.
Chicago has two first-round picks next April, and both are trending as premier selections entering Week 3.
If the season ended today (which, for some Bears fans, would put them out of their misery), Chicago would pick third (their pick) and ninth (the Carolina Panthers’ selection).
Two top-10 picks would put the Bears in striking distance for an elite blue-chip player like Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR, Ohio State) or a quarterback like Caleb Williams (USC) or Drake Maye (UNC) if Justin Fields isn’t the answer.
That last sentence was tough to write; Fields has to be the answer. Bears fans can’t go through another offseason littered with questions at quarterback, and as exciting as players like Williams and Maye are, the odds a first-round quarterback becomes a star are still slim.
Fields is trending in the wrong direction, and his 2021 first-round draftmates haven’t fared much better, aside from Trevor Lawrence.
The San Francisco 49ers already gave up on Trey Lance. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick. The New York Jets gave up on Zach Wilson, too. Wilson is starting for Gang Green only because of Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury. Mac Jones is just ‘OK.’
Hopefully, Fields and the Bears get hot and win more games than they lose over the remainder of the season. If they do, their first-round pick will drop to the middle of the round, and Justin Fields will confirm he’s the long-term franchise quarterback.
Otherwise, get your 2024 mock drafts ready.
