Week 1 Bears Preview: Young Quarterbacks Face-off in Season Opener
Fields, Lance comparison drives story lines between two teams looking for answers right away this season
With another Chicago Bears season getting ready to kickoff, the center of Chicago’s football energy is once again Soldier Field, but much of its hope for the future is being directed towards Arlington Heights.
A lot was confirmed with a public meeting Thursday night about the Bears’ plans for creating a modern multi-use oasis in the Northwest Suburbs, centered by a billion dollar stadium that they hope to begin hosting season openers in sometime in the next decade or so.
But for 2022, they’ll make due again with their cozy home by Lake Michigan and hope that its hostile enough to make the San Francisco 49ers open with an 0-1 record.
The Bears, coming off a 6-11 season, are set to open their 103rd NFL season with a highly anticipated match-up against last year's NFC runner-up. These teams have played each other 68 times, with the 49ers holding a 35-32-1 advantage in the all-time series. This will be the sixth time that the Bears and Niners open a season on the same field.
Ask, and you shall receive
A welcome development regarding Soldier Field emerged this week as the stadium’s field has been changed from Kentucky bluegrass to Bermuda grass. There has been a long history of issues regarding the conditions of the turf at Soldier Field but it seems there was no plans on changing the maligned field itself until new Bears coach Matt Eberflus made the suggestion to switch to Bermuda grass, which requires more maintenance, but could count as ‘Flus first win as Bears coach if it leads to a better quality of play from his team.
The grass upgrade is just one sign of the a new era of Bears football that will officially kick off Sunday. Eberflus takes the field as the 17th head coach in franchise history, he’s a first-timer as a head coach but he seemingly has the experience and foundation of football knowledge that could make him a keeper as leader of the Bears.
“To me, it's about us...it's about us building a foundation, it's about us and going out there and executing the gameplan and playing aggressive, clean, smart football,” Eberflus said at Thursdays press conference when asked about his message to the team.
Make ‘em pay
Last season saw the Bears and 49ers play on Halloween in a back-and-forth game that included a wild 22-yard run by Fields that gave the Bears a 23-22 lead with a little under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. San Francisco’s then-starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, now the team's backup, would lead his team downfield and run into the end zone to give them a lead back that they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Bears dropped the game 33-22 to a then 2-4 Niners team that finished the regular season winning seven of their last nine games before upsetting Dallas and Green Bay on the road in the playoffs. Their unexpected run ended at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game.
In spite of the unexpected success, or in some ways because of its unexpectedness, this offseason saw the Niners hand the ball off to the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, Trey Lance. Sunday will mark the official beginning of Lance as “The Man” in the Bay Area while Justin Fields has had at least several months to get used to having no competition in Chicago. This stands a chance to be a match-up of QB talents that would say a lot about the direction of the NFC in years to come.
While Lance has the bragging rights of being selected eight spots ahead of Fields in that ‘21 draft, the 11th pick has been of much more need in his city and in large part caused the overhaul of the Bears’ coaching and front office ranks that has helped bring about a feeling of freshness entering this season.
When asked this week about wide receiver Darnell Mooney’s earlier comments about his wanting to “make the 49ers pay” for not selecting him in the draft, Fields gave the air of a person who appreciates where he ended up.
“I’m glad they passed on me...I’m just ready to be playing this weekend.” Fields said.
Hoping to make him less glad to be out on the field will be one of the best defenses in the league, led by two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Nick Bosa, so he will have his work cut out for him.
Fields, beyond having the benefit of coming into his second NFL season comfortably as the Bears’ No. 1 quarterback, was also announced as one of the team's four captains this week.
“Coach says ‘you gotta lead yourself first,’ so I'm gonna lead myself first and then lead the guys behind me,” Fields said.
Kick-off is set for 12 noon Sunday.
TV: FOX 32 Chicago
Radio: WBBM Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM
Spanish Radio: TUDN 1200 AM and Latino Mix 93.5 FM
Weather: 73 degrees with 80% precipitation
Saul Rodriguez is WARR Media’s associate producer and lead Bears reporter