Justin Fields goes No. 11 overall to the Chicago Bears

The next chapter of former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields’ football career will begin with the Chicago Bears, who traded up to select him in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Fields, once considered a surefire top-five pick before seeing his stock slip a bit in the lead-up to the draft, was selected with the 11th pick in the first round on Thursday. As expected, Fields was the first Buckeye off the board.

“There’s definitely been a lot of criticism, but at the end of the day I feel like I know myself, I know how much I put into the game, I know how much I want to be great,” Fields said after being selected. “It just comes a point in time where you have to cut all that criticism out."

The one-time five-star prospect out of Kennesaw, Georgia, was long considered the second-best quarterback in his class behind only Trevor Lawrence, but Fields was the fourth quarterback selected on Thursday.

Lawrence, former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson and former North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance went No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

The Bears traded up from the No. 20 overall pick, and also gave up three other picks, including next year's first-rounder, in order to draft Fields.

"I think I fit perfectly," Fields said. "I think if [Chicago head coach Matt Nagy] didn't think I fit well, he wouldn't have traded up. I think just talking to him, getting to know how he communicates with his quarterbacks and his learning style, I think that's gonna make me a better quarterback."

NFL Insider Ian Rapoport reported on April 21 that Fields is managing epilepsy, but that doctors expect he’ll outgrow symptoms as other members of his family have.

Questions about Fields’ work ethic and ability to make reads were raised by pundits ahead of the draft, but the narratives were vehemently denied by Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Fields’ Buckeye teammates.

“Justin’s health, toughness and work ethic have never been an issue and I am incredibly proud of his professionalism and the character he displays on and off the field,” Day wrote on Twitter April 21. “The fact that he never missed a game at Ohio State speaks volumes about how he takes care of himself.”

The back-to-back winner of the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year award, Fields was a Heisman Trophy finalist as a first-year starter and true sophomore in 2019, and finished seventh in the voting for the award this past season.

Fields went 20-2 as a starter, losing only to Clemson in 2019 and Alabama to end the 2020 season, and he went 16-0 against Big Ten competition with two conference championships in his tenure.

With Fields at quarterback, Ohio State earned back-to-back College Football Playoff berths for the first time ever, and Fields led the Buckeyes to their first national championship game appearance in six seasons.

Fields finishes as Ohio State’s second all-time leader in passing touchdowns with 62, behind only J.T. Barrett, and his 41 in 2019 are second only to Dwayne Haskins’ 50 in a single season the year prior.

With 77 total touchdowns in two seasons, Fields is Ohio State’s fourth all-time leader, sitting behind Barrett, Braxton Miller and Art Schlichter.

Fields won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football Award this season, and he was named the Offensive MVP of the Sugar Bowl after an all-time great performance against Clemson in which he threw for 385 yards and six touchdowns.

That passing yardage total is good for eighth-most in a single game by a Buckeye, and his 427 total yards in the contest ranks sixth, behind five performances by Haskins.

The six touchdowns Fields threw against the Tigers is tied for an all-time single-game record at Ohio State, and Fields is one of just six Buckeyes to account for at least six total touchdowns in a game. He did so on three occasions.

"My No. 1 strength, I would just say showing up in big moments," Fields said Thursday. "I feel like when big moments present themselves, I feel like there's just another thing that kicks inside of me."

Fields finished his final Ohio State campaign with 2,100 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions in just eight games, completing 70.2 percent of his passes. He ran for an additional 383 yards and five touchdowns.

Ohio State has now had a player selected in the opening round of the past six drafts, with 2015 being the most recent in which the Buckeyes did not have a player go in the first round.