(670 The Score) -- Four years after taking a bold swing in trading up for a quarterback in the NFL Draft, general manager Ryan Pace and the Bears did it again Thursday.
Chicago traded up from No. 20 overall to acquire the New York Giants’ No. 11 pick, which the Bears then used to select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who will now be counted on to be the savior of a franchise and city starved for success.
The Bears traded the Giants their No. 20 overall pick, a fifth-rounder this year, their 2022 first-round pick and their 2022 fourth-round pick to move up, according to the ESPN broadcast.
Fields threw for 2,100 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions in eight games in 2020, when he led the Buckeyes to a national championship game appearance.
Fields went 20-2 as a starter in his Ohio State career and completed 68.4% of his passes in his college career. He was the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in both 2019 and 2020. Fields was third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019 and seventh in 2020.
The blockbuster trade by Pace and the Bears came after a similar move in 2017, when they traded up from No. 3 to No. 2 overall to select quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. That move backfired, with Trubisky never producing at a high level and Chicago eventually letting him walk in free agency in March.