When the Chicago Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the belief was that the Bears were doing right by Fields.
Sure, the Bears were forced to be trade partners with the Steelers in terms of a Fields' trade given the lack of interest in the quarterback across the league but the team also wanted to make sure the 2021 first-round pick was going to place that would further his development.
The Steelers were always viewed as one of the best spots for Fields considering the past praise that Mike Tomlin has had for the former Bears' quarterback.
With league executives and coaches gathering together for the first time since the start of the new league year, Tomlin, for the first time, went into detail about his excitement over acquiring Fields.
"“Oh my gosh, he oozes talent and potential," Tomlin told the media Monday. "He’s worn the responsibility of being a franchise quarterback, but still he gets the opportunity to come into a community-like situation and learn from a guy who has been doing it for over a decade. Man, there’s a lot of meat left on that bone. I’m just excited about working to be part of extracting it.”"Mike Tomlin via NBC Sports Chicago
Bears fans may not want to hear this but for the first time in Fields' career, he is playing for a head coach invested in his development. That is, in large part, the biggest reason why the Bears decided to move in a different direction at the quarterback position this off-season.
Whether it was playing for a lame-duck head coach in Matt Nagy during his rookie season or a defensive-minded head coach who did not draft him in Matt Eberflus, Fields never had the connection with his head coach on the Bears that most first-round pick quarterbacks have across the NFL.
Fields now has that in Tomlin and this may be what truly exposes how the Bears were negligent in his development.