As the Bears press on in their seemingly endless search for a franchise quarterback, holding out hope that Justin Fields is their guy, they’re between opponents who found talent relatively easily in the middle and late rounds of the draft.
Last week they visited the Patriots, and Sunday it’ll be the Cowboys.
The Patriots famously landed future Hall of Famer Tom Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 draft but have yet another intriguing prospect in rookie Bailey Zappe. They picked him in the fourth round this year even though they already had a promising 2021 first-rounder in Mac Jones.
When the Cowboys needed a reboot at quarterback near the end of Tony Romo’s run, they took Dak Prescott in the fourth round in 2016. He was the eighth quarterback drafted that year, behind one player who never threw an NFL pass, then surpassed everyone in his class by becoming a star.
Prescott shined immediately, finishing sixth in MVP voting while leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record as a rookie. His passer rating has been 96.9 or higher in all but one season. The Cowboys signed him to a four-year, $160 million contract last year, and, at 29, they’ll probably sign him to another one when it ends.
Other than Aaron Rodgers, Prescott probably will be the best quarterback the Bears have faced this season — depending on how much he has recovered from his broken thumb. In his first game back, he put up a modest line (by his standards) of 19-for-25, 207 yards and a touchdown for a 113.2 passer rating. The Bears expect to see the best version of him.
“I’m definitely more comfortable [this week] just having more practice reps,” Prescott said.
How can it be so easy for other teams to find guys like that, yet so arduous for the Bears?
Before Fields, the Bears paid a steep price to trade up one spot to pick Mitch Trubisky at No. 2. During the Jay Cutler years, the only quarterbacks the Bears drafted were Dan LeFevour (sixth round, 2010), Nathan Enderle (fifth round, 2011) and David Fales (sixth round, 2014).
Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace said when he took the job in 2015 that he thought it was smart to draft a quarterback every year, then didn’t. He only drafted Trubisky and Fields when the Bears had bottomed out at the position.
By the way, his successor skipped the position this year, too. In Ryan Poles’ first draft class, he had eight Day 3 picks and didn’t use any of them on a quarterback. The Bears also didn’t bring in any undrafted quarterbacks, instead proceeding with Trevor Siemian and Nathan Peterman.
Consider that while the Bears declined to use draft picks on quarterbacks while they had Cutler and Trubisky, the Patriots drafted 10 of them during the Brady years. Some of them, such as Matt Cassel and Jimmy Garoppolo, were valuable trade assets. There’s nothing wrong with having a surplus of quarterbacks.
The Cowboys know that. Even after hitting the jackpot with Prescott, they took Mike White in the fifth round two years later, brought on undrafted rookie Cooper Rush the next year and drafted Ben DiNucci in the seventh round in 2020. Rush was serviceable for them this season while Prescott rehabbed his thumb.
Consider what would happen this season if Fields was sidelined by an injury. Siemian would fill in for him, and those games wouldn’t mean much because there’s nothing to explore there. He’s 30 and won’t factor significantly into the Bears’ future. Same for Peterman.
Even if the Bears were sure about Fields, at least there would be some excitement about an up-and-comer if they needed him for a stint. They would be wise to add an intriguing late-rounder next year regardless of where they stand on Fields. The more chances they give themselves, the better their odds of getting it right.
For now, though, all they can do is hope Fields stays healthy and keeps progressing.
He was solid against the Patriots, completing 13 of 21 passes for 179 yards with a touchdown and an interception and running 14 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. That performance helped the Bears to a stunning 33-14 blowout against Bill Belichick’s Pats, but it takes more than that to be a franchise quarterback.
It set a viable template, and now Fields needs to follow it and add a little more of everything. His running ability is proven, but he needs more production as a passer.
Fourteen quarterbacks are averaging at least 250 passing yards per game. If Fields, who has averaged 149.7 this season and topped 250 only twice in his career, can ramp it up into that range and maintain his prowess as a rusher, that’s the total package the Bears have been seeking.
Every game for Fields needs to be a step toward doing that consistently. That’s when the Bears will know they have the biggest piece of their rebuild in place.
Prescott strung together impressive performances quickly. He threw for nearly 300 yards in his second start, and that was the beginning of a stretch of topping a 100 passer rating in 10 of 11 games.
Fields has had big games but hasn’t stacked them.
He looked good against the 49ers and Steelers in back-to-back games last season, then got hurt against the Ravens and didn’t play much down the stretch.
He had what looked like a breakout performance in the loss to the Vikings this month, then fell flat while losing to the Commanders before rebounding against the Patriots. He has to level out and be more reliable for the Bears to trust him the way the Cowboys have invested their future in Prescott.
