A Thank You Letter to Pete Carroll

Dec 2, 2022 - 3:00 PM

Dear Pete Carroll,

We, the fans of the Chicago Bears, want to send you a sincere thank you for what you’ve done for this franchise. We want to thank you for delivering us Justin Fields. No, you didn’t draft him, but you opened the door to do so, and for that, we send our deepest thanks.

What’s that? You don’t quite understand why? Well, let me remind you that if you wind the clock back to January of 2021, George McCaskey sat down Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy and told them you have one year to fix the QB situation and make the playoffs (as we know, they came up short). So Pace went to work. He made calls. He was aggressive. He tried every which way to find a legitimate veteran quarterback.

When he picked up the phone and called your general manager, John Schneider, that’s when things got interesting. Pace and Schneider talked, and in the end, Ryan Pace made an offer for Russell Wilson, and your GM was intrigued. So much so that he took the offer back to you to discuss making this move.

Do you remember what you did, Pete? You said I’m not coaching a team as a 70-year old head coach that doesn’t have a quarterback. You said if you can’t get some sort of QB in return, this isn’t happening. And we understand what kind of predicament you were in. Geno Smith had only thrown five in-game passes for the Seahawks at that point, you hadn’t seen the audition he gave you last season when Russ was injured.

So Pete, you vetoed the trade. You said no thanks, we’re keeping Russ, at least for this year, and that’s what you did. You forced Ryan Pace back to the drawing board, and the only path to a QB he had left was none other than Justin Fields.

You saved us, Pete Carroll. You saved the Chicago Bears franchise. You opened the door to Justin Fields when you slammed the door shut on Russell Wilson. You saved the Bears from doing the most Bears’ thing ever: trading for a future hall of fame quarterback and committing hundreds of millions of dollars to him, only for him to be no better than Caleb Haine. It would have been so Bears, but instead, it is the reality of the Denver Broncos.

So thank you, Pete Carroll. Thank you for making the decision you felt was the best for your franchise, and as it turns out, it was the best for the Bears’ franchise as well. We, the fans of the Chicago Bears, wish you well. We hope one day you find yourself in the hall of fame. We’re sorry you forgot to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch on the goal line in the Super Bowl, but we couldn’t be happier you told John Schneider no when he brought you the offer from Ryan Pace.

Thank you, Pete Carroll.

Sincerely,
Chicago Bears fans everywhere