Chicago Bears Top 10 Defining Moments for 2022

The year 2022 will go down as pivotal for the Bears organization.

They not only changed the direction of the franchise with key front-office moves and a new coaching staff, but actually came into the 21st century at the quarterback position.

Not since Jim McMahon had a quarterback for the team so captivated fan imagination the way Justin Fields did in 2022, and during the season he proved to coach Matt Eberflus and most likely GM Ryan Poles that he was their franchise's future at the position.

At least in Poles' case this isn't apparent because he hasn't addressed the topic on the record with media.

Here are the 10 most meaningful events in calendar year 2022 for the Bears.

10. Bears Defeat Patriots 33-14

A win over Bill Belichick for the first time since 2000 was less important than the fact this showed Eberflus' defensive scheme could create havoc if given a real chance, and that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was adept at adjusting to his talent. The Bears came off a minibye and revamped the offense to accentuate Justin Fields' running ability and ability to throw on the run. It worked as he ran for 82 yards and passed for a TD. Their defense made three interceptions, including one each by rookies Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon, as they dominated New England's offense. It was also their last victory, and it came on Oct. 24.

9. Bears Defeat 49ers 19-10

In the opener under Eberflus, Fields got the Bears through one of the worst deluges they've ever played in for a 19-10 comeback victory with a big second half as he outplayed fellow 2021 first-round draft pick Trey Lance. The lasting memory from the victory will be Fields downing the ball on the final play, then leading the entire offense to the end zone for a big belly flop/slip 'n slide in pools of water that built up in Soldier Field's north end zone. Eberflus had a victory in his first game.

8. Robert Quinn Traded

Losing Quinn the player meant very little because he was having the kind of season he had in 2020 when he came to the Bears—one sack. But losing Quinn the leader and friend in the locker room hurt the team greatly. He commanded plenty of respect, even though he missed the entire offseason, including mandatory minicamp, for no good reason other than he chose to not come to work at a critical time when the team was trying to form under a new coach.

7. Roquan Smith Traded

After being a training camp contract hold-in and then spouting off about Ryan Poles' negotiating tactics, the 2018 first-round draft pick returned to practices and played but was traded at midseason on Oct. 31. It happened right after a loss to Dallas dropped the team's record to 3-5. They haven't won since he left, although it's uncertain whether they could have anyway. Smith was a favorite in the locker room and it no doubt hurt morale. Smith's replacement at weakside linebacker was Nick Morrow, but his departure let them put Jack Sanborn into Morrow's old position at middle linebacker and so they found another potential future contributor.

6. Ted Phillips Retirement

The team announced Sept. 2 the long-time CEO and president would retire at the end of the year. The timing was somewhat interesting because it came eight months after it had been announced Phillips was no longer in charge of anything on the football side of operations. Bears board chairman George McCaskey had said after firing GM Ryan Pace and former coach Matt Nagy that the organizational structure had now changed and the GM answers directly to him. For decades it had been speculated that Phillips, who had no real football experience, really had more to do with daily football operation than the franchise let on. It also came with Phillips heavily involved in the very beginning of work on a potential stadium in Arlington Heights. The team is now involved in finding a successor for Phillips, and it will be interesting to see if they maintain the structure they announced with the CEO no longer overseeing the general manager and coach.

5. Justin Fields' Encore Performance

On Nov. 13, a week after running for a spectacular NFL quarterback record of 178 yards, Fields follows it up with 147 yards rushing and the longest run by a quarterback in Bears history of 67 yards in a 31-30 loss to the Detroit Lions. Fields also threw for two touchdowns but the Bears got outscored 21-6 in the fourth quarter and lost a key NFC North game. It was a performance that seemed to certify his effort a week earlier and left no doubt about what he'd done.

4. Khalil Mack traded to L.A. Chargers

This sounded the start of the total rebuild by Ryan Poles, making it clear the goal for the Bears would be to dump salary so they had plenty of cap space in 2023 to attack with in free agency. They shipped out a player who had been a dominant pass rusher and the result of former Ryan Pace's penchant for trading away draft picks. Mack affected the game in numerous ways for the Bears and they took their best shot with him immediately but it ended with the ball hitting the left upright, the crossbar and then the ground. Mack never reached a level close to the 12 1/2 sacks he had in 2018 for them, largely due to nagging injuries.

3. Justin Fields' Defining Game

Until the Nov. 6 game against the Miami Dolphins, there had been speculation, warranted or unwarranted, about whether Poles and Eberflus really believed in Fields' ability to quarterback the team in the future. Fields had flashed various talents at different times but on this day he broke a 61-yard touchdown run, rushed for an NFL quarterback record 178 yards on 15 carries and threw for three touchdown passes. He couldn't defend passes or tackle, so they lost 35-32 to Tua Tagovailoa, but this game stood out as his "Neo" moment, borrowing from the movie The Matrix when the Keanu Reeves' character stands up to the computer generated agents for the first time and Lawrence Fishburne, says, "He's beginning to believe." The only thing here was it was everyone else beginning to believe because Fields believed all along he had the ability to do these things—except maybe running this much. This moment might rank even higher if the GM had come out and made a statement about committing to Fields as QB of the future.

2. George McCaskey Fires Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy

The collaboration didn't work. Pace had been in charge of personnel since 2015 and was responsible for making a trade to draft Fields, showing he could correct earlier mistakes. He and his second head-coaching hire were fired on Jan. 10 after a 6-11 season. Pace hired an inflexible coach who couldn't figure out how to use Fields, just as he couldn't figure out how to use Mitchell Trubisky. They had to go. What no one could figure out was why it took so long for McCaskey to understand what everyone else knew at least a year earlier if not more.

Not only did this day prove big for the decision to part ways with the personnel/coaching regime, but McCaskey also announced that going forward the organizational structure had changed. No longer would the GM answer to the team president and CEO, Ted Phillips. McCaskey himself took this responsibility. This is huge going forward, with the team now seeking Phillips' replacement. The Bears hired Poles

1. Bears Hire Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus

Another Ryan and Matt took over for the old ones in late January. Poles came from the Kansas City Chiefs as GM and Eberflus had been the successful defensive coordinator in Indianapolis. The hiring committee was put together by McCaskey included himself, former NFL personnel boss Bill Polian and Phillips. The hiring left everyone wondering why they would hire a defensive head coach when the chief goal was to develop Fields, and why a general manager so young again like Pace had been, and with so little experience. And what's with this Matt and Ryan thing? They didn't draft another quarterback named Mitchell.