Bears fans' vitriol over Justin Fields trade reveals an unusual divisiveness

We the people …

Usually when something, anything, starts with those sacred words, anything from constitutional unity to insurrections follow. And in this intensely debated, emotionally charged case of the Bears’ divorce with Justin Fields, the ugly side of Chicago amplified itself. We them people.

Here we are a week in the aftermath of the trade — and what have we learned? Not about the trade, not about the Bears, not about the Steelers, not about the NFL or the landscape it created leaguewide that devalued non-elite quarterbacks to running-backs status, but about we: Chicago. This original NFL charter city. This football fault line metropolis where the game comes to live once Detroit, Minnesota and Green Bay turn on it.

“Justin didn’t deserve this,” one side. “The Bears deserved better,” the other. So many mad that the optics come off as the Bears chose Matt Eberflus over Fields. Coach over player. White over black. Unpopular over popular. The ripples caused by the departure of Fields kind of felt like the rips that appeared throughout our country’s fabric after the 2020 presidential election. Based on the foundation of hating and hating-on those who don’t share the exact same beliefs, this past week confirmed — because of this whole Bears/JF1 “thing” — we’ve become no different than what America has openly proved itself to be. The un-United States of Human Beings.

Fans in mourning. More in euphoria. At odds with every little thing the other does, every little step someone else takes. There seemed to be no agree-to-disagree. Team Justin. Team Bears. Team keep. Team trade. Team “Do right by Fields.” Team “You all did Fields dirty.”

Of the thousands of trades and transactions that have happened in Chicago’s sports history, Fields’ remains an extraordinarily odd phenomenon. A phenom rooted in not just promise or promise unfulfilled, but promise that many feel was never given a fair chance.

The arch of betterment, the arch of meeting expectations, the arch of Fields coming closer to being Jalen Hurts 2022 instead of Jalen Hurts 2023. An arch never reached. The facts and records will show that Fields had three years to fulfill that promise, the technicality inside of that fact will show that he only had one season because of many mitigating factors outside of his control that should not be held against his tenure here.

Inaccurate narratives allowed to run unfiltered and unchecked. People verbally disrespecting one another. Calling each other out of our names. All sports radio shows, hosts against analysts against those who called in. Arguments spanning both Facebook and X ecosystems. Local podcasts becoming contextual battlegrounds. People almost coming to blows in bars. Irrational thinking fighting rational thought. Both losing. A city of free-speech absolutism until that speech didn’t align or agree with the beliefs of whose side they were on when it came to Justin Fields, his potential, his trade and how the Bears treated him.

We allowed facts, situation and reality to take a back seat to our feelings.

That is where all conversations about Fields found themselves this week. Pitting everyone against everything: No time to throw vs. missing or not throwing to open receivers. No time to throw vs. questionable ability to read coverages. No time to throw vs. fourth-quarter fumbles and interceptions. Them vs. You. You vs. Them. This is us.

Comedian Leon Rogers used the word “toxic” in describing the state of the city when it came to the Bears/Fields situation. Michael Gulley on Facebook went one step deeper, posting: “Bears Fans out here saying they don’t want Caleb (Williams) because he cried in his Mother’s arms after a game ... yet, y’all on here crying about Justin being traded ... make it make sense.”

The antagonistic, oppugnant divisiveness finally reached an inevitable breaking point — and broke the city in half. We simply allowed a trade to turn us into one big-ass anti-social social club. It’s patriotism. It’s wokeness. It’s the worst of Chi all convening at once into a singular anger-attached situation surrounding the one thing the city usually comes together around: the Bears. It’s a side of Chicago that has always been here but because this problem rests proverbially over-center of the immediate and long-term future of our city’s entire football life, we became emboldened to openly speak our truths masked behind both the treatment and trade of a quarterback.

Our sad reality of self. My colleague Rick Morrissey’s “get on board” column this week on Caleb Williams should have been the wake-up call for all of us to wake up. Good luck, family. While this city will eventually move on, trust this: It will never forget or forgive or accept. We the people are petty like that about certain things. And if nothing else was proved this week, that right there, was one of them.

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