Silvy: Bears QB Justin Fields has star potential. We just need a little patience
Patience.
If you're a Chicago sports fan, you learn you must have it.
The Cubs made us wait 108 years.
The White Sox made us wait 88 years.
The Blackhawks took only 49 years to break through.
It's been 38 years since the Bears glorious 1985 Super Bowl Championship.
And the Bulls are working on a drought of a quarter century.
While this 51-year-old has always had to wait a while, the payoffs have been fantastic.
MJ was the greatest ever. The 1985 Bears had the most dominant defense ever. The Cubs gave us the greatest Game 7 drama.
No one will ever pitch a postseason like the 2005 White Sox. And Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews took the Blackhawks from the worst franchise in sports to three titles in six seasons.
Now I'm left with one last thing I've never had as a Chicago fan.
A true superstar quarterback.
Let's take it a step further. Raise your hand if you've truly ever LOVED a Bears quarterback.
Year after year, our fanbase fights with itself whether our quarterback is good.
Do you remember the Mitch Trubisky truthers?
Jay Cutler is also the perfect example of this. Poll a group of Bears fans now. Half will tell you he was great, the other half hated him. Jim McMahon? He fought with his coach, divided the locker room, never stayed healthy, made one Pro Bowl, and never threw for more than 15 touchdowns in a season.
It's time we get ours.
Justin Fields can change everything.
He can finally be that guy we've all been waiting for.
And he enters the season with a lot of the arguments that divide the Bears fanbase.
One crazy side argues that he's just a running back. (He's not.)
The other crazy side never wants to hear a single Fields criticism. And Fields will be the first to tell you he has a lot to improve on.
Never has a Bears quarterback thrown for 30 touchdowns or 4,000 yards.
Every other team in the NFL has had a guy do this.
Think about that. The Bears are the charter franchise. The team has been playing football the longest and still haven't achieved this. Yet, Fields doesn't have to hit these marks this year to become a star. There is no passing stat we should set the bar at.
I believe our eyes will tell us that Fields has arrived. We'll know it when we see it and it will be obvious. And the wins will come. That is that only stat that will matter.
As we enter training camp report day, we as a fanbase stand at the intersection of hype and hope.
Fields brings us both. Neither will be enough for 2023.
With Ryan Poles setting the table with a much-improved offense, production is what matters for Fields and the Bears this season. Fields has all the characteristics to be a star. And we have a chance to witness something we've never seen before. A true franchise quarterback.
All we need is just a little patience.