49ers should remind Chicago Bears fans of rookie QB tribulations
In the city of Chicago, things are a disaster. The Chicago Bears rookie quarterback is once again going down a bad path, and it seems that the coaching staff and players around him are all helping bring down the ship. While Justin Fields start to his career has been absolutely rocky, the trials and tribulations of rookie quarterbacks come in clear as the San Fransisco 49ers come into town.
Bears fans are mad about being 3-4 and coming off an embarrassing loss to the Bucs, but the 49ers got embarrassed at home to the Colts and now sit at 2-4. Both teams drafted a rookie quarterback, and both teams said pre-draft that they would sit their rookie.
The situations have been completely different, but the results have been similar. Both Andy Dalton and Jimmy Garopolo got hurt. Both Justin Fields and Trey Lance finished the second half of that game and started the next game.
However, Lance got injured in his first career start, while Fields had a poor game, but was able to bounce back against the Lions. The 49ers had the bye, and Lance is practicing this week, but reports are that Jimmy Garopolo will still start.
Kyle Shanahan is starting to take on heat because Lance is getting no reps with the starters. Shanahan has been adamant that Garopolo is the starter, so why would Lance get reps?
It really is like an alternate reality where the Bears went back to Dalton against the Lions. Could you imagine if Fields got hurt and missed the past three weeks because of an injury? But now he is practicing and Matt Nagy is still insisting that Fields will not start? Even though Dalton got injured, missed a game, and then came back and struggled?
Fans would be losing their minds. This once again speaks to the ups and downs of rookie quarterbacks, and the situations that they got drafted into. Both the Bears and 49ers had starters in place, but the reality of the NFL shook up their plans. Now, both teams are scrambling and trying to string together a decent season on the fly.
On the other hand, Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson have been in tough spots. Urban Meyer will likely be one-and-done in the NFL, and Lawrence has already seen more losing than Fields in the NFL. Wilson is now injured after his team got completely embarrassed.
Of course, the Qb that nobody wanted, Mac Jones is by far the best rookie quarterback. Still, everyone knew pre-draft that Jones was the most pro-ready but came with the lowest ceiling and that has played out as well.
Still, even with that when you look at the records below, you see what is going on with rookies across the NFL.
Chicago Bears 3-4
New England Patriots 3-4
San Fransisco 49ers 2-4
Jacksonville Jaguars 1-5
New York Jets 1-5
Essentially, they are listed in order of where they were drafted. This is what you get with a rookie quarterback. It is hard to say this is a bright side, and the Bears coaching staff has done a poor job at quarterback development.
Will mistakes become habits for Justin Fields. dark. Next
Still, when you look at the teams that drafted a rookie in the first round you see that the Bears have the best record and that Lance and Wilson are both going to miss time with injuries. Not to say that it could be worse, but rather that the outcome of this season so far has been about what should be expected.