NFL insider torches Justin Fields' development with Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears selection of quarterback Justin Fields in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, in hindsight, was destined to fail.

No, not because of the history of dread that the Bears have had at the quarterback position. It was a pick made by a general manager on the hot seat, hoping to find lightning in a bottle by pairing an athletic rookie quarterback with a head coach who was also in a position where success was needed in order to save his job.

It was a crowded quarterback room that Fields was entering as the Bears signed Andy Dalton weeks prior to selecting Fields and already had a veteran on the roster in Nick Foles. To that end, a recent retrospect on the handling of quarterbacks by the Bears, shed light on a potential splintered quarterback room during Fields' rookie season.

Tyler Dunne of Go Long revealed that there was discontent between Fields and Foles during the 2021 season.

"“There were several arguments amongst the QBs. Once, per one source, Foles was trying to teach something to Fields in the QB room and — upon turning toward the rookie — Foles realized Fields wasn’t even paying attention. His head was down. At that point, Foles was done trying to play mentor. The two could not stand each other.”"

- Tyler Dunne via Go Long

Beyond that, a source told Dunne that Fields, behind closed doors, may not have been the leader that he was propped up to be in public.

"“One source plugged into the Bears locker room says the widely held narrative that Fields was a strong leader is inflated, citing the quarterback as ‘a surface level dude’ who didn’t develop authentic relationships with teammates. He called reports that teammates love Fields ‘[expletive]’ adding that the quarterback carried himself with an undeserved aura and lacks emotional intelligence for someone who’s been a quarterback so long,”"

- Tyler Dunne

First and foremost, it needs to be stressed that Dunne did confirm that his source was no longer employed with the Bears. Regardless of who is to blame for the failures of Fields and his development with the Bears, the fact is that the Bears want to leave the past behind them as they start a new direction with Caleb Williams.

While Dunne's piece, at times, reads as a hit piece on Fields, especially when taking aim at the quarterbacks's inability to see the play develop, it's more confirmation that there is no one party to blame for what went wrong during the past three seasons for the Bears. Sure, the Bears were not in a position to develop Fields when they selected him in 2021 but it seems that the Ohio State quarterback wasn't ready for quarterback play at the NFL level.