NFL Draft: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears hope wait was worth it for each other

Chicago showed its desire to have the reigning Big Ten MVP by trading up nine spots to make sure they got their man with the 11th pick.

General manager Ryan Pace indicated the team entered the night interested in trading up but only if they did not have to go too high.

“We feel really fortunate to be able to get Justin in the area of the draft we were able to select him,” Pace told reporters. “The excitement throughout our whole building, you can feel it as I walked down here tonight. We knew there was gonna be a sweet spot for us to be in that quarterback world, and this area was kind of it, so it just required a little bit of patience to get to that point.”

Fields, who was the fourth quarterback taken in the draft, also had to be patient.

The first three picks were quarterbacks before a run of teams who were not necessarily in the quarterback market.

“I felt like my family was more nervous than me, but I’ve been in so many situations in my life where I think I want something, I think I want to do this but God has a different plan for me,” Fields said. “So I put my full trust in God, and he’s put me in a perfect place for me and whatever His will is for me is what’s going to happen.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars picked Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 pick, the New York Jets chose Zach Wilson of BYU next and Trey Lance of North Dakota State went No. 3 to the San Francisco 49ers.

While Lawrence and Wilson landed with rebuilding franchises, Lance and Fields ended up with teams that could be built to win now.

They also both have veteran quarterbacks who could be the starter this season — Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco and Andy Dalton in Chicago — while they learn the offense and develop.

“I think we’ve just gotta let it play out,” Pace said of the Bears quarterback situation. “It’ll be a daily process, a daily evaluation, but we’re excited to let that play out.”

The Bears were 8-8 last season and were the No. 15 team in the league according to Football Outsiders.

The perception for the last couple of years has been Chicago has a playoff-caliber roster but a deficiency at the game’s most important position.

Football Outsiders ranked the Bears defense No. 8 in the league but had the offense only 25th last season. Chicago chose to give up on 2017 first-round pick Mitchell Trubisky and sign Dalton to a one-year deal worth $10 million in March.

Fields said he had no idea the Bears would be his ultimate destination, but he sees himself fitting well in coach Matt Nagy’s offense, which was brought over from Kansas City.

“I think I fit perfectly,” Fields said. “If he didn’t think I fit well, he would’t have traded up. I think getting to know how he communicates with his quarterbacks, his learning style I think is going to make me a better quarterback so I’m eager to get up there and learn.”

Pace said a combination of factors made Fields their choice.

“It’s the arm talent, it’s the accuracy, it’s the athleticism,” Pace said. “When you see a guy with that kind of arm talent, with that kind of quarterback makeup that he has, with that kind of work ethic, that’s played in really big games and really big moments and performed in big moments — oh and then by the way, he runs a 4.44 (in the 40-yard dash) — you throw that all in together, and it just feels good.”

Fields is the 31st Ohio State player drafted by the Bears and the first since Wayne High School graduate Marcus Freeman in 2009. The first was Gust Zarnas in 1938. The only team to draft more players from Ohio State is the Browns, who have chosen 34 Buckeyes.

He is the third Ohio State quarterback drafted by the team in the common era (since 1967), joining Craig Krenzel (2004) and Ron Maciejowski (1971).

Maciejowski ultimately went to training camp with the Bengals and was cut in favor of Virgil Carter and a young Ken Anderson.

Krenzel started five games for the Bears in 2004, going 3-2 and throwing for 718 yards and three touchdowns with six interceptions.

The franchise also used a first round pick on an Ohio State quarterback in 1941 when they selected Don Scott with the ninth overall pick. Scott never played for the Bears, though. He enlisted in World War II, became a pilot and was killed when his B-26 bomber crashed on a training run in England.

While 10 other teams had a chance to make him the face of their franchise, Fields said he doesn’t plan to worry about that.

“Those teams have nothing to do with me,” he said. :If we play that team, my goal is to beat ‘em. I’m not worried about the draft. The draft is over for me personally. I’m ready to get to work.”