Bears' Justin Fields Talks Super Bowl, Breakout Season and More in B/R Interview

Justin Fields is "most definitely" feeling the love from the city of Chicago after a breakout second season.

Bears fans understand their team's history better than most. The organization has long been defined by dominant defenses and subpar quarterback play, which has been compounded by front-office mistakes like drafting Mitchell Trubisky instead of Patrick Mahomes.

Yet the franchise quarterback may finally be in place after all these years.

"I hope I'm the guy for them, and I'm going to work as hard as I can to be that guy for them and to bring a Super Bowl back to Chicago," Fields told Bleacher Report. "So I'm excited for the future and excited for this next season.

"I love the fans up there. I love their support. They're crazy, but they love their Bears. Showing up in negative-15 degree weather to cheer us on. It's awesome having them up there and having their support."

Chicago put the future of the franchise on Fields' shoulders when it selected him with the No. 11 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft, but his rookie season was largely defined by inconsistency even though he flashed potential.

It ended up being the final year of head coach Matt Nagy's tenure, which featured zero playoff wins and plenty of criticism. Fields began the season behind veteran placeholder Andy Dalton but eventually took over and completed 58.9 percent of his passes for 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 picks in 12 games.

But with Nagy no longer there and more experience under his belt, the Ohio State product made quite the jump from his first to second year while completing 60.4 percent of his passes for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

There is still room for growth, but it was also impossible to ignore the significant strides he took as a passer as his second season progressed:

"The game really slowed down," Fields said. "I think I was able to be calm in chaotic situations. I think once you get the hang of playing and the more reps you get in a game, you just get used to that speed out there. I think that's the big thing, for sure."

He may have grown accustomed to the speed out there, but opposing defenses didn't when he took off as a runner.

Fields ran for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022, totaling the second-most rushing yards in a season for a quarterback behind only Lamar Jackson's 1,206 in 2019. He likely would have broken the record if he didn't miss two games.

There was no shortage of dazzling highlights, including a pump fake that led to a 61-yard touchdown run against the Miami Dolphins, a seemingly never-ending scramble in the pouring rain against the San Francisco 49ers before finding Dante Pettis for a score, and long touchdown runs of 56 yards against the Green Bay Packers and 67 yards against the Detroit Lions in divisional games.

Throw in a jaw-dropping run against the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles that saw him shed multiple tackles and weave his way through the defense, and it was hard to decide which one was the most memorable.

"I can't pick one, I'm not going to lie to you," Fields said. "Hopefully it's always like that where I don't know which moment was my favorite play."

All those highlights came despite a supporting cast that left something to be desired.

Fields' wide receivers consisted of Equanimeous St. Brown, Chase Claypool, Byron Pringle, N'Keal Harry and Pettis by season's end with Darnell Mooney sidelined, which is not exactly a long list of future Hall of Famers.

However, there is a golden opportunity for improvement staring at the Bears this offseason with the No. 1 overall draft pick and the most cap space in the league.

Chicago could accumulate even more assets by trading that No. 1 pick to a quarterback-needy team. ESPN's Adam Schefter joined ESPN 1000's Waddle & Silvy (h/t Brendan Sugrue of USA Today's Bears Wire) and said the team will surely "have the opportunity to listen to some unbelievable offers for the No. 1 pick."

So what would Fields define as a successful offseason for the organization?

"Just getting the right guys in the locker room," he said. "Of course talented players, but also guys that have the right mindset and guys who fit our culture and what we built this past year. I'm excited to see what we do with that No. 1 pick and all that cap space we have, so it should be a fun offseason."

Of note, he said he would "no doubt" love it if the Bears ended up with former Ohio State teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the draft. Considering Smith-Njigba led a 2021 Buckeyes team that also had Chris Olave and Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson with 1,606 receiving yards, he would be a major boost to the wide receiver group.

Perhaps Fields can help Smith-Njigba with his style for the upcoming draft after he had the opportunity to do that for two fortunate fans.

Fields helped curate the looks for two Marriott Bonvoy members who won one of the exclusive Marriott Bonvoy Super Bowl LVII Moments. The winners of the ultimate package for Super Bowl week attended NFL Honors and will get the chance to watch the game from the exclusive Marriott Bonvoy suite.

"It was great," Fields said. "I got a chance to meet Ross and Jessica last week and talk to them about what their style was. It was cool getting them dressed in their three outfits—their airport fit, their NFL Honors fit and their Courtyard house party fit. It was awesome, I really got to talk to them and get to know them."

Photo Credit: Marriott Bonvoy

After helping create that memorable moment off the field, the Bears quarterback is better positioned to create more of them on it in 2023.

Last year at this time, he was tasked with learning an entirely new offense ahead of just his second season following Matt Nagy's firing. This time around, head coach Matt Eberflus and, perhaps most importantly, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy are back for another season, meaning the process can go from learning a new offense to adding to the knowledge base already in place.

"It's going to make a big difference," Fields said. "Just the fact that last offseason I had to work on changing my footwork while not really knowing the routes we were going to throw and not really knowing anything in the offense. Now, I've got a good idea of what we're going to run, the route concepts we're going to run and the different actions that we're going to run."

Given the coaching continuity, the jump he took from his first to second year, and the position the team is in this offseason with the draft pick and cap space, Fields will be facing higher expectations come opening kickoff in September.

He's ready to embrace that challenge.

"I always tell people that my expectations are higher than anybody's in this world," he said. "I expect myself to perform at a high level regardless of the circumstances and regardless of what's going on around me. I'm expecting a big year out of myself."

That is just what Bears fans want to hear.