When I got home from the kid’s baseball practice on Monday night, it was ablaze with Justin Fields speculation after it was pointed out by CBS Sports’ (and local guy) Tom Fornelli that Justin Fields was not currently following the Chicago Bears on Instagram.

It’s like back in high school when you would be on the rocks in your teenage romance and displace your one time crush from your MySpace “Top 8.”

‘Oh, my! Did you see that Justin took the Bears out of his Top 8! He’s definitely out of here!.’

But let’s sort a few things out this morning before we go “spilling the tea” today:

• We don’t know when Fields stopped following the Bears on Instagram.

• We don’t know if he ever was following the Bears on Instagram.

• Who cares.

Seriously.

Who cares?

I don’t know if he ever followed the Bears on Instagram, or when he may have stopped following them. At the end of the day, I believe that Tom was just trying to be funny, and this was the result:

If we’re being honest, this has been the state of Bears fandom on social media for some time now.

But fear not, we’re reaching the end of the ride in the coming weeks here. The NFL Draft is still two months away, but don't expect the Bears to let this quarterback debate linger for too much longer.

Take this quote from Albert Breer’s Monday Morning Quarterback column this week:

“Such is the case with the Bears and Justin Fields—with the team having gotten a little insight into what his trade value may be. Chicago staffers got inquiries from other teams on Fields in Mobile. And while the Bears haven’t shopped Fields, those conversations did allow the team to start to gauge the 2021 first-rounder’s worth out there on the market.

The Bears are meeting over the next couple weeks to finalize plans at quarterback, with the expectation that they’ll have the plan in place in Indianapolis next week.”

There are two significant pieces of information there from Breer. First, the Bears have indeed been taking calls on Justin Fields, specifically while they were at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama the week before the Super Bowl.

Second, this thing is coming to a head. With the NFL combine set to kick off next week in Indianapolis, trade conversations are going to reach a fever pitch, and the likelihood of a deal getting done will be at its highest point of the offseason.

The NFL Combine is like baseball’s Winter Meetings, but for football. By day, the league’s most powerful executives and coaches are there to scout the next stars of the NFL. By night, they’re wheeling and dealing as they lay the foundation for their offseason approach. If you’ve never read Peter King’s NFL Combine notebook, you should check it out ahead of this year’s extravaganza.

When it comes to getting the league’s most powerful decision makers in the same place, Indianapolis, Indiana might as well be the Catalina-freaking-wine-mixer during the final week of February.

Teams like to leave Indianapolis with a clear vision of their offseason before free agency opens the following week in March and the draft rolls around in April. Quarterbacks available are shopped to teams before they have a chance to negotiate with free agent quarterbacks.

Derek Carr’s move to New Orleans was hatched at last year’s combine in Indianapolis. The Bears spent the week shopping the No. 1 pick in the draft, and they pulled the trigger on the deal with the Panthers just four days after they departed Indianapolis. Chicago could be shopping that pick again, although my money is on them keeping it and selecting USC’s Caleb Williams.

Either way, whether it’s the No. 1 pick or Justin Fields, interested teams will want to be able to check that box in their offseason plans during — or shortly after — the combine wraps on March 4.

Which means that there’s a very strong likelihood that the debate regarding the Bears plans under center will be coming to an end in the next two weeks. For that, I am so grateful.

More Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation

• The first installment in the Caleb Williams Tapes at BN dropped on Monday morning. I detailed my observations from multiple watches of Williams’ performance against sixth-ranked Oregon in November, and I came away feeling pretty good about Williams.

• I also spent four hours watching and charting Caleb Williams’ performance against fifth-ranked Washington from November on Monday. That should be ready tomorrow morning. I’ve got to tell you, if you’re not impressed by this kid, you’re not watching the games.

• This salary cap update is good news for the Bears!

More Chicago Sports at Bleacher Nation

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

• Remember yesterday, when I wrote about the Connor Bedard Effect in this newsletter? Last night he went out and scored another goal and two helpers in a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Bedard now has six points (and two goals wiped off the board) in three games since making his return less than a week ago. Tab has more on another big night for Bedard:

CHICAGO BULLS

• The Chicago Bulls have a very small chance of improving their position in the Eastern Conference standings. But that was evident to everyone except the front office.

CHICAGO CUBS

• Cubs owner Tom Ricketts spoke to the media on Monday, and as Michael wrote, those weren’t fun comments that Ricketts had on the payroll status of the team.

• Brett has more details on Ricketts’ Monday media session in Mesa, Arizona.

• The Cubs have added a pair of players to the mix in Mesa, coming to terms on deals with outfielder David Peralta and first-baseman Dom Smith. Smith and Peralta provide the Cubs with two left-handed hitting depth pieces, something that Jed Hoyer admitted the team could use last week when he spoke to the media in Mesa.

What’s on deck?

Both the Bulls and Blackhawks are off tonight, and the Cubs don’t start their Cactus League schedule until Friday.