Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Fields Was Never Going To Be That Guy For The Bears

There is a contingency of NFL fans who are questioning why the Chicago Bears gave up on Justin Fields. Why they traded him for a fifth-round pick. Why they were not able to make things work with him.

We see this quite frequently in football. A player doesn’t materialize with a certain team, then he goes somewhere else and produces, and fans come with the “I told you so” narratives.

Then there is the other side of it, where a player busts, gets dealt or signs elsewhere and still doesn’t perform very well. The fans who clamored for the team to keep that player are then typically pretty quiet.

We are about to find out what trajectory Fields will take.

Let’s be honest: it was never going to work out for Fields in Chicago. He spent three seasons with the Bears and went 10-28 as a starter. He threw 40 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He completed just over 60 percent of his passes.

I don’t care how anyone tries to spin it: Fields was not good in Chicago. Yes, he had his moments, like in Weeks 4 and 5 of this past season when he totaled eight touchdowns and just one pick. But then he had a stretch between Weeks 13 and 15 where he didn’t complete 60 percent of his throws once. That included a 19-for-40 outing in a loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Showing flashes is not going to guarantee you success—or a starting job—in the NFL. That’s why Fields had to settle for a backup role with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There was talk earlier in the offseason that Fields could fetch a second-round pick or possibly even a first-rounder. The Bears ended up trading him for a fifth. Yes, Chicago did turn down better offers to accommodate Fields. But you’re kidding yourself if you think the Bears declined an offer of a first or second-rounder just to make Fields happy. That didn’t happen.

The fact of the matter is that there are 32 teams in the NFL, and they are all much better assessors of talent than people posting on Internet forums. There is a faction of fans who seem to think Fields is destined for greatness. That seems to be more rooted in fantasy than reality. If we are being entirely honest, the 2022 version of Daniel Jones played better than Fields ever has, and we see how that has turned out for the New York Giants.

Is that to say that Fields cannot become successful or at least serviceable? Absolutely not. He clearly has talent, and he definitely looked better in 2023 than he did in his first couple of seasons. But the idea that the Bears made some huge mistake in letting him go is pretty silly.

Chicago owns the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft. Caleb Williams is considered a generational talent, a very good one by others. Basically, the kid has obvious potential, and the Bears have a clear road to selecting him next month. Why would they choose to retain Fields—who has been a major disappointment since being taken 11th overall in 2021—when they have the opportunity to start fresh with Williams, who seems to be the better prospect?

Fields was at odds with Chicago’s coaching staff early on this past season, and you know what? He probably had a point. The Bears likely weren’t utilizing him correctly, attempting to turn him into a traditional pocket passer in spite of the fact that he rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022. They should have just let Fields be Fields. Maybe he would have developed better in that scenario.

But it’s obvious that both sides needed a fresh start. Chicago needs to roll with Williams, and Fields needed to be dealt. And maybe learning under Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh will serve him much better over the long haul?

Here’s the thing, too: until the Steelers moved Kenny Pickett because he was dissatisfied with his decreasing role to QB2 behind Wilson, they weren’t interested in Fields. Neither were plenty of other teams who were in need of a quarterback going into this offseason.

But of course, everybody with a computer or a smartphone knows better than all other 32 NFL front offices. Right?

The Justin Fields experiment failed in Chicago. Maybe it will go better with a clearly superior coaching staff and organization in Pittsburgh. Perhaps Fields will be Wilson’s successor in another year or two.

Or maybe Fields will join the long list of quarterbacks who never quite lived up to expectations.

Here’s to hoping it’s the former, but until then, the backseat driving should probably cease.

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