A fascinating dividing line has emerged between those who believe the Bears should keep Justin Fields and those who believe they should not. When defining what constitutes this dividing line let's start with former NFL QBs. Most of the quarterbacks, who have gone public with their opinion about Fields stay or go, conclude he should stay with the Bears. Some enterprising Bears reporters should contact as many former QBs as possible to see how many believe Fields should stay as a Chicago Bear.
Then there is this very vocal group of pro-Justin Fields supporters who happen to be his teammates. This reminds me of past QB controversies where this old axiom has often been proven to be right. That being, the clubhouse knows best. What makes this QB controversy unique is it pits a current starter against the first pick in the draft who has been identified by many as a generational talent. Of course, the history of QBs becoming very successful who were the top picks is quite the mixed bag.
As far as generational QBs go, Andrew Luck has been the only quarterback drafted with the top pick in the last 25 years who as advertised became a generational talent. Here is what I believe is the most compelling reason for the Bears to keep Justin Fields. Of the two generational talents identified in this draft wide receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr. is more likely to become a generational talent than Caleb Williams for this main reason.
The logic is that the hurdles a rookie has to overcome in order to achieve this lofty status for a wide receiver to become one of the best of his era are far less than the obstacles a quarterback such as Caleb Williams will face to achieve generational talent status as a quarterback. So I conclude go with the more certain generational talent in Marvin Harrison Jr. than the less certain one in Caleb Williams. This logic dictates if, at all possible, the Bears should first focus on making every effort to trade the top pick so they end up with Marvin Harrison Jr.
Getting back to the who wants the Bears to keep Justin Fields camp, we have one more significant group of believers. This group consists of several players from defense from other teams both current and former players. These guys do not hold back their considerable respect for the Bears QB1. One of them is Von Miller. He has been one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.
He said, "Justin has all the tools to be one of the best QBs in NFL history." Then we have a former NFL pass rusher who was very good in his time and is in the Justin Fields camp. A video with brothers, Chris and Kyle Long has Chris with having a lot to say about how it would be best if the Bears kept Fields. Kyle did not have much to say but nodded in agreement.
As you read this it might stand out that all the individuals on the pro Justin Fields side are made up of three subgroups and all are current or retired NFL players. They all advise the Bears to keep Justin Fields and not take a chance on a rookie QB. I very much suspect these pro Fields players are wary of the next great college QB who once he gets to the NFL might end up not being so great. Their skepticism is quite warranted given how very often first-round rookie quarterbacks have not lived up to the big-time hype given to them when they entered the NFL.
These opinions of NFL players as a whole appear to follow this creed. It is better to put trust in what we know about a quarterback even if he is not perfect, more than we trust what we think and hope we know about a QB who has never played in the NFL. The evidence of a very high number of first-round quarterback outright busts and big QB disappointments over the years makes it tough to go against this logic.
What it gets down to is it very much appears the supporters of Fields put more faith in his proven talent and perceived growth than they do in the projected success of an, extremely, talented, highly touted rookie QB. This is a role and responsibility these players, well know, is the most important and challenging position in all of sports. These players who are not Bears players and do not have any allegiance to the Bears but support Fields might well be an offshoot of the clubhouse knows best theory.
The other side of this dividing line is about those that get paid to either judge football talent by NFL teams or get paid, handsomely, by media outlets for their football expertise. Without a doubt, the majority of current and retired scouts and front office types as well as members of the media believe the Bears should use the first pick in the draft to select a new quarterback.
It is my opinion that the option of replacing Fields with Caleb Williams falls under the category of conventional wisdom. It is also my opinion that the long long history of going the route of conventional wisdom inside or outside of sports has proven to be at best a 50/50 gamble. These odds are even less when conventional wisdom is applied to a rookie quarterback.
Here is some evidence to back up this assertion. Two years into the NFL, Brock Purdy just led the Niners to the Super Bowl. He won the honor of being the Mr. Irrelevant of his draft by being the last one chosen in his draft class. Tom Brady who many consider the best quarterback of all time was picked in the sixth round of his draft class. For both of these quarterbacks, it was their intelligence, quick processing speed, and professionalism that proved their draft status was quite inaccurate.
A derivative of my dividing line theory is that the reason the majority of these past and present scouts and front office types as well as the members of the media either consciously or unconsciously take the side of conventional wisdom in regards to Justin Fields is this. There is a bit too much risk for their reputation as someone considered highly knowledgeable about football to side with believing Justin Fields can fix his flaws enough to become a top QB of his time. Ironically, the QBs that support him do believe they have seen enough proof that he can grow way beyond his known deficiencies.
It is understandable for anyone to have serious questions about Fields' future projection. I suspect these NFL professionals and media members are more than a bit blinded by Fields' bad habits and many errors to the point that they are unwilling to set a high value on the significance of his growth in 2023. It is important to note that at least 12 former quarterbacks have gone public in their belief, that Fields' growth is very real. The obvious difference between the QBs and others with lots of football knowledge is living life in the pocket versus being an observer. I believe this is a good example of knowledge versus wisdom.
It is not that I am trying to hold anyone's feet to the fire, just trying to discover what is really what and why, when it comes to Justin Fields. I cannot, honestly, say with absolute certainty that if I made a living in the arena of professional football or sports media where my living is attached to my opinions and insights I would not also be hesitant when projecting Fields' career in a positive direction at this juncture.
Given this context, it is understandable that these well-paid professionals who live off of their reputation are unwilling to embrace that Justin Fields' growth can be exponential as time goes on. What adds enormous amounts of fuel to the fire of siding with not keeping Fields is the perceived generational talent of Caleb Williams.
Here is someone who is a former Bears scouting director with 40 years in the scouting business but is no longer in this line of work. He has come across quite a substantial reason why the Bears should stick with Justin Fields. This insight is offered by Greg Gabriel. He is a former Director of Scouting for the Bears. Grumpy Greg can be a bit of an acquired taste but he is a good guy with lots of valuable football knowledge. He has stated that his contacts throughout the NFL and the college ranks are extensive.
Gabriel leaned toward replacing Fields but changed his mind. What changed his opinion was a talk he had with one of his contacts who Greg, eventually, revealed is a QB expert. This friend of Greg’s whom Gabriel expressed great respect for made one of the absolute best points regarding Justin Fields and his coaching.
In analyzing Justin Fields, Gabriel's friend said he looked at videos of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, CJ Stroud, and Justin Fields. Gabriel's friend in comparing all these quarterbacks identified one flaw that must be fixed by Fields. This QB expert said Fields' setup is too slow both from behind center and in the shotgun.
Gabriel went on to say that this is a very easy fix but if not fixed it affects every play in a big way. He said all the weaknesses Fields has revolve around this flaw -- such as waiting too long to release the ball. That it is an easy fix yet a vital all-encompassing one is why Gabriel's friend added he believes that those who coached Fields should never get another coaching job in football.
Later in this piece, I will list those that say move on from Fields versus those that say keep Fields. It is more than a bit startling to see the stark dividing line between everyone whose reputation from their football opinions is linked to one degree or another to their income take a stand to move on from Fields versus those whose football opinions are not tied to their wealth.
In order to believe in Fields' future success you need to believe that his growth is real and has genuine momentum that will lead to Fields' fixing his flaws. This also, obviously, means belief in Fields' ability to become the best version of himself outweighs the doubts created by his many mistakes. This is the single most important factor in deciding for or against Justin Fields continuing in Chicago. If anyone can get the closest to the truth about this, it makes the most sense to me that it would be the former NFL quarterbacks over everyone else.
So here is the list of pro-Fields voices versus the give-up-on-Fields voices that I have come across. First here are the quarterbacks who believe the Bears should roll with Fields. Chase Daniel, Tim Jenkins, Chris Simms, Alex Smith, Dan Orlovsky, Jay Cutler, Phil Simms, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Leaf, and Jim Miller. JT O'Sullivan is also on this list but he put together a very specific set of conditions required for the Bears to keep Fields. Attaching these conditions to keeping Fields makes perfect sense to me and will be detailed later in this article.
3 of these 12 QBs have YouTube channels where they have done a deep dive into Justin Fields' tape which shows in detail why they believe he is a keeper. O'Sullivan of course has his list of conditions to this. Kurt Warner also has his own YouTube channel. He is not for the Bears keeping Fields because Fields has not shown enough consistency with nailing the layups and on-schedule plays.
Next, we have former players who are pro Fields and did not play quarterback. They are Louis Riddick, Von Miller, Corey Wooten, Chris Long, Roquan Smith, and Lance Briggs. Next are the former scout and NFL front office professionals and media members who are pro Fields. They are Greg Gabriel, his friend the QB expert, former scout Daniel Kelly, Trey Wingo, Peter King, and Mike Florio.
In the Chicago sports media contingency, Herb Howard is a Chicago radio personality on WVON and is a guest on Chicago media outlets like CHGO BEARS. He is unabashedly in favor of keeping Fields in Chicago. WSCR's Laurence Holmes and Leila Rahimi very much appear to want to keep Justin in Chicago but I have not heard them, flatly, state this. Then we have former tight end, Clay Harbor who is a Chicagoan and played for the Bears. He like Herb Howard is a guest on Chicago media outlets. He, often, speaks, highly, of Justin Fields even to the point of, vigorously, defending him. However, I have not seen a flat-out endorsement of Fields by Clay.
Now we shift gears and delve into the quarterbacks who feel the Bears should move on from Justin Fields. The ones I know of are Boomer Esiason and Kurt Warner. They believe the Bears should make the first pick in the draft a new starting quarterback. Kurt Warner has legit issues with Justin, consistently, completing the layups and on-schedule plays.
However, the other 12 QBs who believe the Bears should keep Fields must also believe that Fields' growth, especially, his late-season growth shows he can, consistently, make the layups and the on-schedule pass plays that Kurt, rightfully, has pointed out are a must for a successful quarterback.
This gets us back to the Chicago sports media. They as a whole are going with the conventional wisdom of choosing Caleb Williams over Justin Fields. The main vibe I get from even the Bears media I like and respect is that the vast majority are falling into the safe comfort zone of what I very much believe is the conventional wisdom of the Bears drafting Caleb Williams to be their new quarterback.
Herb Howard is a WVON personality and a Bears beat reporter for The Bigs Media. He also is a frequent guest on the CHGO BEARS YouTube video channel and is the one Chicago sports media figure that I know of who, strongly, advocates for the Bears to keep Justin Fields. He is not a star in Chicago sports media but he is quite knowledgeable and a gutsy guy. IMO in this atmosphere, it takes some real guts to be in the Chicago media and be in the keep Justin Fields camp.
Then we have Laurence Holmes and Leila Rahimi of the Chicago sports radio station WSCR. These two are not only entertaining but, consistently, have great insights into the Bears. As far as their take on Fields, when reading between the lines, it appears they both favor keeping him. They are pretty consistent about praising and defending Fields. However, I have never heard either flatly state the Bears should keep him.
I have to admit to kind of avoiding Chicago sports radio of late because when the talk turns to quarterbacks the vast majority of the time what I am hearing, I am not liking. The main reason for my dislike is this talk is lacking in acknowledging the compelling evidence that Justin's game got a lot better when he came back from his thumb injury. Instead what I have heard, recently, is more about opinions focused on rehashing the same, heavily, trodden territory of Fields' mistakes from year two through mid-season 2023.
The media personalities and fans who refuse to acknowledge the big improvements made by Fields post-injury lose my attention and respect for their opinions on Justin Fields. These opinions lack the full picture of just how good Justin Fields has become since coming back from his injury. So this talk is weak tea to me after getting detailed QB lessons from QB experts such as Chase Daniel, JT O'Sullivan, and Tim Jenkins who have made it clear Justin Fields' recent growth is very real.
It is kind of startling to see this dividing line between those who believe Justin Fields should stay in Chicago and also do not have their wealth tied in a big way to their football opinions. Then contrast this pro Fields group to the move on-from Fields group. When comparing these two groups, the vast majority of those who want the Bears to replace Justin are those whose income is quite dependent on their reputation as professionals who are knowledgeable and insightful about football.
What does JT O'Sullivan think?
Now on to the conditions JT O'Sullivan has defined to justify the Bears keeping Justin Fields. This plan was detailed in his week 17 video of Justin. Others have said similar things but O'Sullivan puts it all together in a detailed and concise fashion. So O'Sullivan supports the Bears keeping Justin but only under these conditions. He says the Bears' number one need is to replace Luke Getsy. He says, the new Bears OC, needs to be someone who will emphasize Fields strengths. Now that Shane Waldron has been hired as the Bears' new offensive coordinator this condition has in my opinion been fulfilled.
O'Sullivan also advises that Fields and his coaches need to continue to focus hard on improving his footwork. Fields' worst mechanical flaw is bouncing just before making a pass or moving his feet backward just before making a pass. In the Packers game, this drove O'Sullivan to distraction. In his week 17 breakdown he also pointed out that Fields needs to do a much better job of having his feet point very much in the direction of his passes.
O'Sullivan is really good at analyzing a QB's footwork. On top of these three changes, he includes as a must condition for the Bears to keep Fields is to add an electric wide receiver playmaker. Then last but not least the Bears need to improve the quality of the Bears interior offensive line. Do all this and the very demanding, brutally frank, JT O'Sullivan believes the Bears can justify keeping Justin Fields in Chicago.
Chase Daniel weighs in on the Justin Fields' situation
In the last game against the Packers, O'Sullivan was quite critical of Luke Getsy and Justin Fields. My counterpoint to his justified criticism toward Fields is that Chase Daniel made the cogent point that in this game, the Bears' pass protection had its absolute worst game of the season. In addition, Luke Getsy's play calling, apparently, in an attempt to compensate for the offensive line's continued failures only seemed to make things worse.
Very much in Fields' favor is the likelihood that Fields used the four weeks he did not play because of an injury to self-scout and reflect. The results of whatever Fields did during his time off show lots of evidence that he can identify his flaws and fix them. This evidence is based on the substantial improvement he showed when he came back from the injury to his thumb.
Chase Daniel confirms this growth post-injury. Here are the fixes Fields made according to Chase Daniel. He says Fields took more chances as a thrower and got a lot better at layered throws over the middle of the field. On top of this, there were several plays where he had room to run but instead chose to throw to open pass targets.
In Chase Daniel's opinion, all of this added, positively, to his resume as a passer. Daniel said, "The more I watched his tape as a thrower it was really really good and better than people were giving him credit for." One of Fields' passes that most impressed Daniels was this. He rolls out to his right but as he is set to throw is then surrounded by four of the Browns defenders. To make this pass work, he had to throw off his back foot with a glove on and he had to throw the ball 55 yards in the air.
Unfortunately, Robert Tonyan dropped this dime of a pass as it fell right into his hands. I believe this incomplete pass, perfectly, thrown by Fields is a fitting metaphor for those who think they know that the Bears should move on from Fields. The metaphor is, that Fields' great throw under pressure shows who Fields really is while Robert Tonyan dropping the ball represents the disbelievers.
These kind of valuable insights by Daniel are why I give the former quarterbacks the most weight in forming my own opinion. After watching lots of tape of Fields while being tutored by the likes of Chase Daniel, JT O'Sullivan, Tim Jenkins, and even Kurt Warner, it makes tons of sense to me why the Bears should keep Justin Fields.
Tim Jenkins has plenty to say about Justin Fields
Tim Jenkins agrees with Chase Daniel that the Bears should keep Fields. JT O'Sullivan of the QB School in one of his videos also pointed out that Fields has improved his accuracy and also improved on his progression on reads. In addition, O'Sullivan mentions that Fields is using effective sneaky ball fakes as well.
Tim Jenkins has also done a great job of analyzing Justin Fields on his YouTube videos. I learned as much from him as I did from Daniel and O'Sullivan. Jenkins in his videos was also on top of the times Fields was much too slow to set up and how this led to missed opportunities. This, of course, is the same criticism Greg Gabriel's friend had identified in Fields' game.
Tim Jenkins, like Chase Daniel, pointed out how good Fields has become at making the layered throws since he came back from his most recent injury. On tape, Jenkins walked us through Fields throwing a layered pass for an on-schedule and well-designed play.
This pass is a perfect example of how good Fields has gotten at these layered throws that can gain some big chunk yards. In this play, Jenkins shows and explains to us that Fields sells a bootleg with his eyes and tempo as he runs a few steps to the right. He then stops, turns left, plants his foot, and makes a difficult yet, well thrown pass to his left to Cole Kmet for a 30-yard gain between 3 defenders getting the Bears to the six yard line.
Then the next play has Fields making a spot-on pass to a wide-open Mercedes Lewis in the back of the end zone. These are examples of an on-schedule play and a layup that Kurt Warner wanted to see from Justin. Again these plays took place after his injury. The more I saw of Fields' tape the more I am convinced those four weeks off for Justin will, very likely, be a big key to turning his career around.
I would be remiss if I did not add that there is a video clip of Phil Simms advocating for the Bears to keep Fields without outright saying it so that is why I have included him in the pro-Fields list. All of the 12 aforementioned QBs are in agreement the Bears should keep Justin Fields. Common sense says QBs should know more about the intricacies and subtleties of quarterbacking including whether a QB has got it or not. No one on the planet has more depth of insight into quarterbacking than the QBs outside of a few brilliant coaches on the offensive side of the ball.
Could Shane Waldron unlock Justin Fields for the Chicago Bears?
Shane Waldron will be the closest thing a Bears coaching staff will have had as a QB expert going all the way back to 2011. This is when Mike Martz was their OC. Every Bears offensive coordinator after Martz up to and including Luke Getsy was at best mediocre and often much less than that. Logic dictated before the Bears made this, enormously, important decision on their starting quarterback they needed someone in their organization who is a proven and respected commodity in his knowledge of quarterbacks and offense.
That Geno Smith came into his own once Shane Waldron became his OC is pretty solid evidence Shane has some QB Whisperer in him. To what degree we can, fully, attach to Shane Waldron this highly respected label is something we shall all find out in Chicago, relatively, soon.
Now to fully address the debate beneath the debate. That being whether the obstacles to Justin Fields’ growth are the primary reasons for his, fairly, slow development much more than blaming the deficiencies Fields brings to the table himself. I believe these outside obstacles have masked the strong likelihood that Fields will grow way beyond his weaknesses. The pro-Fields supporters place a major portion of his hit-and-miss growth on the coaching, play calling, and the quality of his teammates on offense.
As mentioned, Chase Daniel said that the Bears' pass protection was poor during the last portion of the season and he added this poor pass protection included the running backs. In his tactful way, Daniel appeared to feel really bad for Fields about having to endure in his final game of 2023, his pass protectors as a whole having their worst game of the season. He said Fields was under constant pressure this entire Packers game.
Presumably, Fields' tape of the second half of 2023 was the final piece of the puzzle for Daniel to say this. He said, “The Chicago Bears could trade away a guy who could be the guy everyone who wanted to draft him thought he could be.” Daniel believes it would be a big mistake for the Bears to give up on Justin Fields and fellow QB Tim Jenkins also very much agrees with this.
Fields' detractors refuse to believe his growth has enough momentum to carry over and make him one of the better if not one of the best quarterbacks of this era. Von Miller believes Justin can be one of the best QBs ever. There is more than enough evidence to believe Justin Fields' detractors could, very well, in time be proven wrong.
Circling back to Greg Gabriel’s insights on Fields' inadequate coaching, this inexcusable gaffe by the Bears' coaches on offense reveals another dreary tale of the Bears organization dropping the ball big time in developing a quarterback. Doing this deep dive into Justin Fields gives us a peek under the hood of why the Bears have had a long sorry history of not developing quarterbacks.
The Bears overall played some very good football in their last seven games when Justin Fields returned from his injury. They went 4-3 but should have gone 6-1 with Fields at QB as they lost two games with double-digit leads in the second half. The blame for these two losses IMO goes to head coach, Matt Eberflus, for having his team play very soft pass coverage with a lead. This soft coverage allowed the QBs to slice through the Bears' defense. That ain’t Fields' fault.
To take it a step further, it is entirely possible if the Bears had better coaching from Matt Eberflus they could have gone 7-0 in their last 7 games. It was shocking to see in the last Packers game that the Bears players as a whole through most of it gave such a disheartened dispirited effort. There had to be a lot of pressure on Matt Eberflus to win this statement game to his coaching in this final game of the season which was also a big-time rivalry game.
Losing this game badly could have, easily, gotten Eberflus fired. So what happens is Eberflus chokes, many if not most of the players choke, and Justin is running for his life behind the Bears' worst pass pro of the season. The team looks lousy yet once again against the despised Packers. Yet, this all results in Eberflus getting to keep his job. Then there is the predictable next step of the media and very many fans decide to give up on Justin because the grass looks greener when they see Caleb Williams standing and running on it.
However, if Matt Eberflus had taken his head out of his butt and done his job as Bill Belichick would say, by coaching up his team to play at their best against the Packers as they did in the last game against the Lions then I believe this Bears offseason would have a much different tone to it. A new positive pro-Justin Fields tone could have been set if Eberflus was not so very fixated on his weak play, not-to-lose approach to football.
If the Bears had ended the season going 7 and 0 then Fields' growth would not have been overshadowed by Eberflus's failings and the Bears media would be, lining the streets with roses for QB1, figuratively speaking, instead of working overtime to get him tossed out of town.
This kind of context is important if anyone is willing to take the extra steps to get beneath the surface to enable them to fully grasp the value Justin Fields brings to the Bears and how Bears coaching made him look much worse than the much-improved quarterback that he became at the end of the season. To back this assertion up Chase Daniel, Tim Jenkins, and JT O'Sullivan both acknowledged Justin Fields' growth and were, highly critical, of a countless number of the Bears game day coaching decisions.
Yes, I want the Bears to keep Justin Fields. However, let me make something crystal clear this is an, extremely, hard decision to make. It very much requires sifting through and contemplating several complex factors. Then doing some heavy mental lifting by prioritizing the value of layer upon layer of factors. There are several solid logical arguments to support both sides of this franchise defining the crossroads of a decision.
However, I believe based on the expertise of the NFL QBs discussed in this piece and the evidence they provided about this decision that their insight and opinions are as good as it is going to get when it comes to foreseeing the best possible future of the Chicago Bears in regards to choosing who will be their quarterback.
Here are some additional interesting examples of factors to be layered into their decision. Another reason for the Bears to stick with Justin Fields is this. The NFC playoffs are showing us there are some very good but not truly great NFC teams to climb over to get to the Super Bowl. The best teams are, very likely in the AFC and for sure the best QBs are in the AFC. In addition, there is a strong belief among many in the NFL that the team with the most blue-chip players has the best chance to win games.
Both Fields and Caleb Williams may go on to have great careers. However, if the Bears pass on Fields and he becomes one of the best NFL QBs of his time then the Bears will have missed out on several great and very good players they could have gotten from trading the top pick in 2024. This is not to deny that the most pivotal player is and always will be the quarterback.
On one hand, a possible “generational” quarterback is there for the taking. On the other hand, the Bears have a quarterback who also is a very good deep ball thrower in this pass-happy NFL era. In combination with this, he is a dual-threat QB with strength and 4.44 speed who at any time can be the rare quarterback who can create big chunk plays with his feet in this era of dual-threat QBs.
Is it really smart of them to not give Fields one more year to see if he can fully realize his great potential? This, especially, would be a missed opportunity now that the Bears have put together what, very possibly, is one of the best offensive coaching staffs in the modern era of the Bears. If the team gives Fields one more shot, it is reasonable to believe they can make the playoffs in 2024. This would cast a big bright positive light on the Bears and Justin Fields that they came close to creating in 2023. If they make the playoffs next season then this would create genuine hope for the possibility that their next step is a run at the Super Bowl.
My fear is Ryan Poles as a former scout and current general manager with two years of experience is going to land in the camp of the front office types and scouts who favor Caleb Williams over Justin Fields. Then in time, he is proven wrong to have moved on from Fields. On the other hand, it is also possible that "the greedy to acquire top players general manager" Ryan Poles will ultimately find it impossible to take a pass on the king’s ransom he can get for trading this year’s number one pick. It is, also entirely, possible that the prize of "Mr. Generational QB Talent" will have teams not only offering a king’s ransom but they might also be willing to throw in a queen’s ransom as well to beat out other offers.
When considering all the angles this also should be taken into consideration. If after 2024 is over and the Bears decide to move on from Fields they should have plenty of draft capital to move up and draft one of the top QB's in the 2025 draft class. Contemplating which of these big picture factors weigh more for or against than other factors is why this is such a complex decision. Whatever the Bears and Ryan Poles decide I just hope it is for the right reasons and not because it falls under the heading of being the safer choice because it adheres to what very much appears to be conventional wisdom.