Dispelling this Chicago Bears’ narrative before the off-season

The Chicago Bears will be faced with a major decision this off-season as they will likely have the first overall selection in a draft that is quarterback-heavy at the top. At the same time, the Bears will need to decide whether or not they will be picking up the fifth-year option on Justin Fields’ rookie contract.

The decision for the Bears is whether or not they want to move forward with Fields as their starting quarterback. If the answer to that question is no, the Bears must trade Fields this off-season and select their desired quarterback with the first overall selection.

The off-season has already started and the debate has raged on in Chicago regarding what the Bears should do at the quarterback position.

There is one aspect of the debate that fans are getting wrong. There is this idea out there that if the Bears elect to move on from Fields in favor of Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, the team would be unable to continue to build the roster around the quarterback position.

The idea of the Bears being forced to “reset” if they take a rookie quarterback is a misguided concept.

Entering the off-season, the Bears remain in the Top 10 in terms of teams with the most available cap space. The Bears will have approximately $63.7MM in cap space available this off-season to go along with six draft selections including two that may be in the Top 10. A trade of Fields would also likely bring back two draft selections in the 2024 draft as well.

To that end, it’s proof that there would not be a reset for the Bears if they make a change at the quarterback position this season. If anything, the team would have reset the quarterback contract clock while still having plenty of cap space and draft capital available to build around the quarterback position.