Leaving the Old Ways in the Past

The Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, both struggling franchises, take a new direction at 2021 NFL Draft.

These two franchises have a lot in common over the past decade or so. Both are in the same division, both have struggled to find stability within the organization and both are looking for a new QB to steer them towards a championship. However, both front offices took a new direction at the draft last Thursday with the players they drafted. The Chicago Bears and General Manager Ryan Pace traded the 20th pick and future draft picks to the New York Giants for the 11th pick. With that pick the Bears chose Justin Fields, the quarterback from the University of Ohio State, who will serve as the centerpiece for the offense going forward. With their second round pick the Chicago Bears chose Tevin Jenkins, a offensive tackle out of Oklahoma State University to shore up their offensive front. Why these two picks are important for the Bears is because they have never went this direction in the draft in recent memory.

According to lifelong Bears fan Otto Sanchez, a sophomore at Texas State University, the Bears have finally made an exciting move in the draft that fans can be happy about. “After the Mitchell Trubisky years, it’s nice to have a QB with a lot more potential and less uncertainty and with our defense still stacked. I think the team can make a playoff run,” said Sanchez.

The Bears front office management, the guys in suits who pick and sign players to the roster, focused on mostly the defense when it comes to past additions. This has left the

team with a run-first defense that is very archaic compared to new generation offenses like the Chiefs and Seahawks who feed off athletic QB play with speedy receivers on the outside. With the pick of Justin Fields in the draft, the Bears are moving in the right direction. Fields has an incredible arm as well as the ability to escape the pocket and gain yards with his feet.

On the other side, the Detroit Lions and their new front office and coaching staff that include first year GM Brad Holmes and new Head Coach Dan Campbell chose to stand pat at their draft spot. With the seventh pick, the Lions went with Left Tackle Penei Sewell

from the University of Oregon. In the second and third rounds, they picked two defensive lineman in Levi Onwuzurike and Alim McNeill, both solid pass rushers and physical players. Sewell is one of the best offensive lineman prospects the draft has seen in a while and even though Detroit needed a wide-receiver. They picked the best player available and went with the rebuilding style of “building from the trenches”. In football terms, that means a team signs players or drafts players on the defensive line and offensive line where most of the action happens on the field. The philosophy stems from the idea that if you control the line of scrimmage, other positions on the field (for example skill positions like running back and safeties) will fall into place. This method has been popularized by the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts who have had quick success after struggling for a few years.

Detroit Lions fan Cade DeRaud, a freshman at Texas Tech, was ecstatic about the way the team drafted. “Yeah I know we didn’t have any flashy picks but we have talent on the front lines now and hopefully we can apply pressure to opposing teams that we couldn’t do last year.” said DeRaud.

The Detroit Lions had one of the worst pass rushes in the league last year and was a big reason why their former head coach and GM were fired after the Thanksgiving game last year against the Houston Texans.

With both the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions adapting to the new style of building a super bowl contending team. It will be interesting to see how both these teams look this season and many years after. The first game of the new NFL season is set to kick off September 9th.