PHOENIX — Justin Fields and Kevin Warren used to be adversaries. When Warren was the Big Ten commissioner in 2020, he canceled the conference’s football season because of coronavirus concerns. Then the star quarterback at Ohio State, Fields started a petition that called for it to be reinstated, and went on a public relations offensive to push the issue.
Eventually, Fields got his wish. Five weeks later, the Big Ten reversed course and played a modified season.
The two have since become friendly. Now they’re partners.
Thursday, Fields told the Sun-Times that Warren had his full endorsement as the Bears’ new president/CEO, a role for which he was introduced last month.
“I love him,” Fields told the Sun-Times on Thursday at Super Bowl radio row.
The reason, Fields said: Warren is who he says he is.
“How he works with people, how genuine he is,” he said. “Just the kind of person he is — great.”
Warren visited Fields in the visiting locker room after the Bears lost to the Vikings earlier this year at U.S. Bank Stadium, the masterpiece he helped to build. Fields was spotted hugging Warren in the Bears’ weight room the day the president was introduced. But Fields’ first public comments about the hiring were even more significant.
During a week that has celebrated the first pair of black quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl game against each other, it’s worth noting where the Bears stand in — they have their first black president/CEO and their first black general manager, Ryan Poles, to team with Fields. Hiring Warren was a significant departure from the Bears’ way of doing things — he’s the first president they’ve ever hired who didn’t already work for the team, and the second who isn’t either George S. Halas or his descendants. He’ll inherit the job from a retiring Ted Phillips in April.
The admiration between Poles and Warren goes both ways. When he was introduced last month, Warren said he would have protested just as Fields did. He said he had “the greatest amount of respect” for the quarterback because “he wants to win championships.”
The Bears — who were a league-worst 3-14 last season — are a long way from doing that.
Fields’ trip to radio row might be the closest he gets unless the team’s rebuild fast-forwards. The Bears have the most cap space in the NFL and the No. 1 overall pick, though they’re likely to trade the latter for a stockpile of picks, this year and next.
Fields arrived in Phoenix as something he couldn’t say last season: a well-known NFL player.
If anything was clear Thursday, it was that Fields is, on a national scope, the face of a franchise that has so desperately searched for an offensive identity.
He signed autographs and posted for selfies while promoting an energy drink, C4. He repeated the same thing to those who asked: the 2022 season featured “a lot of ups and downs,” but he saw brighter days ahead. He defended his own running, saying that the focused on protecting himself when he ran for the second-most yards by a quarterback in NFL history.
He praised the Bears’ training staff for helping keep him healthy — they monitored how much he ran in games and practices, and knew how to taper him down
“It’s a long season,” he said. “You have to take care of your body.”
Meanwhile, the Bears — and Warren — have to take care of him.