Caleb Williams is a Chicago Bear. Get Used To It

There are a lot of Bears fans who have been reluctant to embrace Williams as the Bears' presumptive starting QB because of their feelings for Fields. But he's been gone for over a month. It's time to move on.

I personally wanted the Bears to keep Fields and use the 2024 NFL Draft to build around him. To me, it was strictly a football decision -- I thought Fields would take the leap in his fourth season, shed his flaws, and with the right talent and better coaching, show the type of improvement needed to bring the Bears to the playoffs. I felt a veteran coming into his own would be a better fit for an improving team than a rookie who might go through first-year struggles -- and a rookie whose game has some of the same flaws that Fields showed. Not to mention, the locker room loved Justin.

It was never about off-field stuff to me. I just thought that at this point in their careers, Fields with more weapons was a better option for the Bears -- even though it's possible that mid-career Williams might be better than mid-career Fields.

The Bears disagreed, however, and they have the only vote that matters. So now I am going to root for Williams to succeed and hope I was wrong. As a Bears fan, I'd rather be wrong over which QB to roll with and see the team win than the other way around.

I still want to see Fields succeed, and I will never forget that the Bears failed to develop him -- and got bailed out by Carolina. I will, at times, wonder "what if" if Fields had stayed and the Bears had still snagged Rome Odunze at number 9 and signed Keenan Allen. Bears coaching failed to maximize Fields' talent and the Bears are lucky that they had the chance to pick Williams.

I may root for Fields, but I won't forsake my Bears fandom or become a Steelers fan or hope that Justin balls out and Caleb busts just to be proven right. That would be selfish and silly. The best outcome Bears fans with a soft spot for Fields can hope for is that he plays well elsewhere but the Bears end up being Super Bowl champions.

I am no pro scout -- maybe Williams is better at football than Fields, or will be once he develops at the pro level. Maybe Justin was never going to put it all together in year four in Chicago, even with better coaching and weapons. If that's the case, then the Bears made the right choice -- and if that choice leads to a championship, well, that's the goal.

One can still be angry at how the Bears failed to develop Fields and still root for Williams to succeed, especially since coaches like Luke Getsy were fired and are now employed elsewhere. A new era is here, and like it or not, Fields fans, if you root for the Bears you must embrace it.

More Bears news and rumors: