Bears-Bills preseason game featured an epic Georgia throwback moment

Georgia football fans are experiencing 2018 all over again with Jake Fromm battling Justin Fields in “practice.”

It’s Saturday in Athens is a state of mind today in Chicagoland, as Jake Fromm and the Buffalo Bills take on Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears in a meaningless NFL preseason game.

Georgia football fans are once again being reminded of all the things that could have been from three years ago. Fromm and Fields were UGA teammates in 2018. While Fromm was coming off a strong true freshman season that saw the Dawgs go to the national championship, Fields was a former five-star recruit from Kennesaw chomping at the bit to play for his home state’s team.

Three years later, they are playing each other in a preseason NFL game and Georgia has not been back to the College Football Playoff…

Georgia football fans relive 2018 with Jake Fromm and Justin Fields going at it

While there was no way Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was going to allow Fields to be in a realistic situation to compete for the starting job with Fromm, Fields left Athens after one season and had a terrific two-year run at Ohio State. He led the Buckeyes to the playoff twice, was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2019 and played for a national championship last season as a junior.

Fromm regressed in his junior season in 2019. Once thought of as a first-round pick, Fromm fell all the way to the Bills in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft and has yet to appear in a regular-season game to date. As for Fields, it is not a matter of if but when he will be named the Bears starting quarterback during his rookie season. They traded up to No. 11 to draft him last spring.

While Buffalo is absolutely throttling Chicago in Kirby Smart Bowl, we know the Georgia coach is probably not watching this game because it would be just too painful. Fields’ signature play in Georgia uniform was a failed fourth-down attempt vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2018 SEC Championship game. Had Georgia won that game, the Dawgs would have been back in the playoff.

Ultimately, what this preseason game is doing to Dawg Nation is making them relive some of the worst horror shows of the College Football Playoff era. For the last four seasons, Georgia has been defined by its quarterback play: Good, bad and horrendous. While Fields was the most talented quarterback in Athens over that run, he never had a chance to be a superstar in Georgia uniform.

Until Georgia finally wins a national title this century, the Fromm over Fields debate will continue.

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