Can local media and fans shape the national perception of their most visible professional athletes?
You bet they can.
Case in point:
Seemingly, at the 2017 NFL Draft, from the very second that the Bears traded up one spot from #3 to #2 (giving up the #3, #67, #111 picks, plus a 2018 3rd round pick) to the 49ers in order to select Mitchell Trubisky, the first QB taken in that draft, an inordinate hoard of Bears media and fans expressed their deepest and most profound disdain for the trade —- and for the prospects of Michell Trunisky.