Bears Quarterback Justin Fields' Vegan Diet Earns PETA MVP Award

CHICAGO — Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields ate his way to an MVP award, of sorts.

PETA named Fields – who began eating vegan in 2020 as a detox and stuck with it — it's Favorite Animal-Friendly Athlete, at the 2021 Libby Awards.

“Justin Fields is living proof that peak performance on the field can start with vegan meals in the kitchen,” PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg said. “PETA is celebrating this animal-friendly athlete for setting a compassionate example for football fans in Chicago and beyond.”

Fields has been vocal in promoting his vegan diet. Before the Bears drafted him last year with a Twitter endorsement of his "go-to" plant-based snack, Wonderful Pistachios.

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In August, the rookie quarterback told Insider.com that he'd like to convince more people to join him in eating a plant-based diet by opening a vegan pizza restaurant in Chicago.

"You rarely see famous Chicago pizza restaurants that have vegan cheese on it," Fields told reporter Jackson Thomas.

"I hope so one day [to open my own vegan pizza shop]. That would be awesome. We would definitely create more knowledge to other people that think vegan stuff is nasty. So if I were able to do that, we could get the word out, and people would try it, and more people would think about going vegan or plant-based."