Justin Fields doesn’t get to where he is right now without being competitive. One does not wish to become a professional athlete without at least some desire to prove they’re the best at what they do. During his interview with “Meet The Rookies” on the Chicago Bears’ YouTube channel, he was quoted as saying he’s competitive in everything he does. Rest assured that isn’t exclusive to football.
You can challenge him in anything and he’s bound to take it pretty seriously. Yet few things can match his confidence when it comes to ping pong. Over the past few years, the Bears rookie has developed quite a liking for the table-top game. He’s also gotten quite good at it. So much in fact that he made a solemn vow on camera. Whenever the team comes together at the facilities, they better not challenge him to a game.
They will end up leaving disappointed.
This offers another example of Fields the person. He doesn’t talk trash when making this statement as others would. It is more a simple statement of fact. That is how confident he is in himself. No matter what he decides to do, if it’s competitive in any form he plans to win. While this is not comparing the two directly, this is a trait that all-time Chicago Bears icon Michael Jordan shared. His competitive streak was legendary.
It didn’t matter what it was from darts to pool, cards, or even tossing a quarter against a wall. He was so confident in his ability to win that he’d wager ridiculous amounts of money on it. Fields may not be quite that irresponsible but the mindset is similar. If you’re going to be challenged at something? Play to win.
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Justin Fields is ready for the work to begin
Ping pong won’t be his focus for much longer. The quarterback has spent most of his summer vacation preparing for training camp. Anything he can do to get better, he’s done it. That includes extending workouts in the weight room and doing practice sessions with fellow NFL QBs including Deshaun Watson. It is clear the 11th overall pick hasn’t resigned himself to the fact that he may not play this year.
Quite the opposite. He’s preparing as if this is a competition and he is, again, playing to win it. Head coach Matt Nagy has insisted time and again there is no competition. Andy Dalton is the starter. Justin Fields doesn’t seem to care. He stated openly he’s gunning for the starting job and believes he is ready to play right now. A lot can happen in a month.
Dalton better get ready.
Training camp begins on July 29th. The Bears will have their first preseason game on August 14th against the Miami Dolphins. Expectations are that Fields will see a lot of action in those games. A perfect opportunity to showcase his skills. If he can deliver a string of good performances? Then it will be interesting to see what Nagy ends up doing.