Nobody knew for sure what the Bears were going to do with Matt Eberflus and Luke Getsy once the season ended, but many experts figured the head coach was safe and the offensive coordinator wasn’t. Thus, when the news broke Wednesday that the Bears were keeping Eberflus and firing Getsy, it didn’t exactly produce shock waves. It was more like the tide coming in.
Those were decisions with a small ‘‘d,’’ comparatively. The Decision, the one that matters most, centers on what the Bears will do with quarterback Justin Fields. There are no obvious clues to be found in the ouster of Getsy and four other coaches on offense. It might mean the Bears are looking for a coordinator who can unlock Fields’ potential, or it might mean that whichever quarterback the Bears take with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in April deserves someone better than Getsy.
I believe general manager Ryan Poles will move on from Fields and use the top pick on USC quarterback Caleb Williams or North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. He didn’t say so during a news conference Wednesday, but he didn’t profess anything resembling undying love for Fields, either.
Who would, other than the typically smitten Bears fan?
You’re the one I want to help. You’re the type of person who came away from the news conference believing the Bears finished 14-3 instead of 7-10, possibly because Poles and Eberflus led you to believe that with their enthusiasm.
Given the Bears’ long history of failure at the quarterback position, I would have thought you, a veteran of QB disappointment, would have built up super-sized skepticism when it comes to new arrivals. That, tired of being embarrassed by your all-in exuberance, you’d stop throwing yourself at the latest thrower. But no. Jay Cutler was going to be the best. Mitch Trubisky was going to be the best. Fields was going to be the best.
Nothing can be done about the Bears’ choices, but there’s something we can do about yours. I’m here to help break the cycle of how you view and treat Chicago quarterbacks. Consider this a user’s guide to the new 2024 model (provided the team does the right thing with the No. 1 pick).
Stop blaming the offensive coordinator for everything.
An example of logic that has fallen down and can’t get up: Getsy is bad, therefore Fields is a good quarterback waiting to happen.
The idea that Getsy was responsible for all of Fields’ shortcomings is silly. At what point does a player take responsibility for what he is? Offensive coordinators call plays. Players make plays. Sometimes the calls are bad. Sometimes the player isn’t good enough. Sometimes all of it is true.
Whenever Fields did something wrong, his backers would say it was because of Getsy, a bad offensive line or a lack of receivers. Where can I get friends like that?
Judge the next quarterback on what he does, not on what he would do with another coordinator or if he played with better players or if dogs were cats. How often did we hear that Trubisky would be better without Matt Nagy calling plays? And how has that worked out?
Judge a quarterback on his accuracy, his ability to see the field and his ability to move his team. Save the excuses for your missing homework. Everybody, including the QB, will be better off because of it.
Don’t fall in love so easily.
Use some restraint. You’ve been hurt again and again. Don’t give your heart to a quarterback who has yet to prove a thing. Upon his arrival, don’t pull out the measuring tape to fit him for a Hall of Fame jacket. Don’t get a tattoo of him or his uniform number anywhere.
Just because the Bears are presenting you with a quarterback doesn’t mean said quarterback will be great. In fact, assume the opposite. Start there. Assume he doesn’t know what the laces are for on a football. Things only can go up from there.
Check your pride at the door.
The very human urge to be right has been hard at work in Chicago the past three years. That urge forced many in the pro-Fields camp to rationalize his uneven play. A fumble had to do with a lack of blocking. An interception had to do with the coordinator’s lack of vision. A off-target pass was the mascot’s fault.
When Fields played well, it was all because of him. Funny how that worked.
The other side, the find-another-quarterback side, has been guilty of similar narrow-mindedness.
How about all of us, the born skeptics on my side and the born pompom-wavers on yours, take a step back. And then stay there for a couple of years. You’ll thank me later.
