6 reasons why the Chicago Bears made the right decision to trade Justin Fields
By Dakota Wayne
Reason No. 2: Justin Fields is an elite athlete, but an inconsistent passer for Chicago Bears
When looking back on Justin Fields' career with the Chicago Bears, there's no doubt that Fields is one of the most elite athletes to put on a Bears uniform. Athletically, the ceiling can't go high enough to match Fields' potential. However, that wasn't the problem with him.
Fields' main issue, from an outsider's view, was his lack of trust across the entire field.
Maybe that was due to the lack of directly building around him, but Ryan Poles wasn't the offensive quality control coordinator. His job was to make the entire team better, and unfortunately for Fields, that meant being dealt an unfair hand as far as an offensive supporting cast goes.
That doesn't rid Fields of some blame, though.
Justin Fields has been the ultimate Rorschach test in this city. Two things can be true. The Bears put him in a brutal situation to start his career, and he didn't play well enough to prevent the franchise from taking advantage of having the No. 1 pick.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) March 16, 2024
Time and time again, it appeared that concepts became open too late for Justin Fields when diagnosing where he was going with the ball. Whether it was a lack of trust in his offense line, receivers, or coaching, there was a lack of trust somewhere. Plays that went well, usually, were relatively open concepts. There wasn't much anticipation throughout games, and if there ever was, it wasn't done consistently
Too many times, Justin Fields would pass up the open receiver to showcase his elite athleticism. That wouldn't matter too much if that was a sustainable quarterback process, but it just isn't.
If Fields can find trust within himself as a quarterback, it can all come together for him. However, when presented with the opportunity the Bears are presented with, going a different direction is a hard option to pass up.