September 20, 2021: Getting Our Wish

I do not wish injury upon any player, even the ones I hate the most; I wouldn’t shed a tear if these guys did end up getting hurt, but I don’t actively wish that upon them. Of course, this is true for anybody playing on my teams as well. Yet, when Andy Dalton went limping to the sideline on Sunday, I can’t say I was heartbroken. Certainly hope he’s OK, but… what happened because of this injury, well, we finally got our wish…

Justin Fields played the rest of the game at QB; he didn’t do great. Thankfully, he didn’t have to. You know the butterflies were at a maximum for him; we have to cut him a little slack. But man… few plays I wanted to mention. There was the perfectly thrown TD ball to ARob that he dropped; in his defense, he did make a big reception and first down before that. Still, Allen, got to catch that guy; it happens though. Just like the INT he threw; that wasn’t pretty… nice play by the D for sure, but… lesson learned more importantly, we hope. Of course the play that I’m sure most folks will be talking about is the late first down scramble that he made; obviously, a big time play to seal the game away, after giving the Bengals some life. The play that stuck out to me was when he got sacked. Sure, should he have felt that guy coming around his blind side? He’ll need to learn this lesson for sure, to keep himself safe, and to protect the ball. He got crushed, and the ball bounded away. The Bengals guy was about to scoop it up, and with nothing but green grass in front of him, could have scored a TD, but then it happened… my favorite play from Justin Fields all day. After getting clobbered and run over, he didn’t just lay there. Somehow, some way, he lunged after the ball and recovered it; huge, huge play. Yet, there is more to this…

You see, we could sit here and talk about the good and the bad from Justin; there was certainly both. But the most important thing on this afternoon was the injection of hope; did you feel it? I know I did. Yes, the Bears got their first victory of the season, thankfully, and yes, this win can be mainly attributed to the defense, which we are used to, but… seeing Justin Fields play QB gives me hope. That hope that maybe, just maybe we got a guy… at this position, the most important position on the field… this position that we have failed at over and over again; it is really something… to feel that, to have that hope.

Who knows what Justin Fields will turn out to be. Certainly the first half of his career starting at the position is not going to tell us that. But I do know this: there is hope… and that my friends, is everything. BEAR DOWN!!!