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Super Bowl Bites: Even at the Super Bowl, the Bears are a Big Story
Everyone has an opinion on the Great Quarterback Debate of Chicago, even at the Super Bowl. Plus, I empty the best of my recorder from the first day of Super Bowl Week in Las Vegas.
Patrick K. Flowers
February 06, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
After a long day at the media festivities on the opening day of the Super Bowl week in Las Vegas, I’m typing this installment of the newsletter with less than four hours until its regularly scheduled publishing time.
My feet are howling; my recorder is full of good stuff, and somehow, even despite the 1,758 miles that separate Soldier Field from Allegiant Stadium, there was plenty of Chicago Bears conversation today.
“You look at some of the adversity he’s been through, and it’s not easy in Chicago. It’s gonna make him tougher. Whether he stays there or goes somewhere else, I know he’s very resilient.”
Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy was grilled on his feelings regarding Justin Fields, the quarterback he coached during his rookie season in the NFL in 2021. As rough as things ended for Nagy in Chicago, he doesn’t seem to have an ill word to say about his one-time rookie signal caller.
“You have to learn and grow from those experiences, and I think he’s done that,” Nagy said Monday night. “Some guys do it faster than others, but I know one thing’s for sure: He’s going the right way with his growth, and that’s important.
While Nagy’s answers regarding Fields were very surface level — which is to be expected — it seems that he believes that Fields can still reach the ceiling that his former boss, Ryan Poles, and himself saw in Fields when the Bears traded up to draft Fields in 2021.
But enjoying his second consecutive Super Bowl experience since being dismissed by the Bears isn’t going to bash Justin Fields. So, if you were expecting such a response, you’re out of luck. This means, at the same time, his responses were what they were: a Super Bowl media night answer. It's not really one that moves the needle for me when it comes to evaluating Fields’ body of work and what he could be capable of in the future, wherever that may be.
But Nagy wasn’t alone on Monday night. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, who grew up a Bears fan, had this to say about The Great Quarterback Debate of Chicago: