FanPost

A Generational Draft

The streets of Cleveland are dying down after an extraordinary pilgrimage of NFL fans descended upon the city to cheer on their teams and be a part of the 2021 Draft. The event itself was like a dream after a long sleep, as fans were crowded together in attendance and even pulled on-stage to be a part of the action. The entirely digital draft from the year prior was nothing but a distant memory, but that didn't stop the commissioner, Roger Goodell, from bringing his infamous high-back leather chair out of the basement and into the forefront of this rejuvenated affair. Lives were changed, emotions ran high, and franchises are once again looking to their futures.

It is almost too perfect that, given the pain and hardships the world has endured for the last year, this rebirthed live event could signify the beginning of a new era for the Chicago Bears. No team stole the show more during the First Round than the Monsters of the Midway. Ryan Pace, after being given the rare chance to continue building and managing a franchise despite missing on a high quarterback selection once before, rewarded a fanbase that had been struggling to come to terms with his continued tenure by making a trade up to select quarterback Justin Fields with the 11th pick in the draft.

The moment was unlike anything an entire generation of fans had ever seen or experienced. There have been moments of joy and celebration in the last two decades: a trip to the Super Bowl, an NFC Championship appearance, and the 2018 division-clinching win over Green Bay, to name a few. With all due respect to those achievements and the work that went into them, no single event has left the fanbase so full of hope for the future. No single draft choice, win, trade, or hire to this point has ever been met with this much approval and elation in the last 20 years. Finally, after years of suffering in the dark ages of quarterback play, the team seems to have a Renaissance on the horizon. Chicago has a quarterback who looks, acts, and plays like every bit the kind of superstar necessary to win in the NFL. Fields has all the potential to be a quarterback that the Bears win because of, rather than in spite of. The Chicago Bears have seemingly found their spark of genius.

It would have been easy for the team to coast with sub-par draft strategy for the remainder of the weekend and still look like they won the day -€” but that is not what Ryan Pace and company had in mind.

Day 2 begins, and within the first hour of the Second Round, Ryan Pace did the improbable and traded up again, parting with our third-round pick to swap second rounders and gain a fifth-round pick in return from Carolina in order to select Teven Jenkins. On night one, Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy won the hearts of Bears fans everywhere. On night two, they exceeded any expectation most had for the draft.

I wrote several times before that Fields was my dream for our first-round pick, and we had already seen that come true. If we could not select Fields, Jenkins was my preferred selection at our original first round pick (20) coming into the draft. Jenkins shows elite athleticism and an attitude that has been missing from this offensive line unit. He doesn't just want to win; he wants to annihilate the man across from him. He wants to beat them into submission, get up, and do it again. I assumed that picking Fields at 11 meant we had no shot at Jenkins.

Then, the Bears got both.

In two nights, Ryan Pace looks to have done what teams can only hope to do in multiple drafts -€” locate and select a franchise quarterback, and a franchise tackle to protect him. Good grief. The draft could have ended there, and the fanbase would have been thrilled beyond compare. However, with selections in the fifth and sixth rounds left, Pace still had work to do.

So, what happened on Day 3? The Chicago leadership had to wait to make their next choice, but they were prepared and struck gold with another high-upside offensive line prospect in Larry Borom. Another dedication to the offensive line, and another nasty attitude demonstrates that the days of being called "soft" are over. This unit will be ferocious again and will beat opponents into the dirt until victory is achieved.

After a trade down with pick 208, Pace and his team spent their multiple sixth round picks on a versatile running back and return man in Khalil Herbert, a deep threat and intriguing wide receiver in Dazz Newsome, and a highly rated cornerback in Thomas Graham Jr. The seventh round saw the Bears pick up another trench warrior in Khyiris Tonga, defensive tackle from BYU, and just like that -€” the draft was over.

For the first time since 1960, the Chicago Bears spent their first five draft choices all on offense, and the direction seems clear: revamp the line, pick up more weapons, add defensive stand outs to fill needs, and most importantly, get the quarterback necessary to shift this team from a defense-first squad into an offensive juggernaut ready to compete with the best in the league.

As great as this draft was, the significance it potentially holds cannot be understated. So often, fans want to call a prospect "generational," but the term has become overused by talking heads in $2,000 suits, repeating the same descriptors in different orders. However, this draft has a chance to be generational to the Chicago Bears. Not for any individual prospect, but for the draft as a whole and the significance of these players. If the Bears walk away with a franchise quarterback in Fields, then this draft was already a monstrous success. If the team walks away with a franchise quarterback, franchise offensive tackle, and more? There isn't a term to describe it adequately enough.

Everything about this draft feels different compared to before. Compare how you felt after trading up for Fields to how you felt when Chicago picked Mitch Trubisky. Compare how you felt trading up for Jenkins to how you felt when even first-round tackles Carimi or Williams were announced.

This draft has the chance to be the beacon of hope and the stuff of legend for an entire generation of Bears fans. Only time will tell, but just a few hours after the draft ended and this fan is already feeling a change in the winds.

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.