In simpler times – say, three weeks ago – a consensus seemed to have been reached locally and nationally on Justin Fields, the consensus being that he wasn’t a very good passer. It made life easier. Not more pleasant, if you were a Bears fan, but easier, less uncertain. You knew where the sun was going to rise each day and you knew where to find the largest growing pile of discarded quarterbacks.
Then Fields put together two excellent games against two bad defenses, and hope and belief were introduced back into the bloodstream of people who had stopped hoping, believing and, in some cases, eating. Now there are those among us who once more are thinking he might be the real deal.
This raises a question: Really?
We’re going to do this again?
The last few years have been one great debate over whether Fields could become the franchise quarterback the Bears and their fans have craved for decades. A pinpoint pass would send faith levels across the city soaring. A pass that missed its target by five yards would make people dress in black and grieve for weeks. Slowly, more and more observers began coming around. The speedy Fields could run but he couldn’t hide his accuracy issues.
Then the Broncos and the Commanders showed up on the schedule like miracle cures. After not having a 300-yard game in 28 NFL starts, Fields threw for 335 yards against Denver. After having just one three-touchdown game in his career, he threw four touchdowns against both the Broncos and the Commanders.
Although those results are a good thing for Fields’ confidence, they’re not good for the mental health of the populace. Better to be resigned to reality than yoyo-ing emotionally from week to week. Better to focus on the next quarterback the Bears will miss on in the 2024 draft than to throw yourself at a few shiny performances now.
It’s possible that Fields has turned a corner and turned over a new leaf. But it’s more likely that all those previous games told the truth about the kid. The pedestrian passing percentage and passer rating meant something.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager a hefty sum that what we’re seeing now is another tease, that what goes up is likely to come down. This is based on several years of Fields and a lifetime of bad Bears quarterbacking.
There’s no denying he had some beautiful passes against the Commanders, passes that were so perfectly placed that he couldn’t have handed them to his receivers any better. But it’s fair to say that, had he been facing better defensive backs, the outcome of those passes would have been different. Washington coach Ron Rivera benched rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. during Thursday’s game. That’s how things were.
The Broncos are last in the league in points allowed, the Commanders second from last. That’s a double negative for those Bears fans willing to be honest with themselves. The rest will be dressing up as Da Coach for the 40th straight Halloween.
Even the truest of true believers has to know the team needs to draft a quarterback in the first round next year, no matter what Fields does the rest of the season. The 1-4 Bears are bad enough that they could get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft for the second year in a row. Most experts predict that USC quarterback Caleb Williams will be the first player chosen and a revelation when he hits the pros. This suggests three obvious possibilities:
• Williams, a junior, will decide to stay in school rather than play for the horrible Bears.
• The Bears will draft Williams, and he’ll end up being no better than Fields or Mitch Trubisky. Worse, another quarterback in the draft will turn out to be the next Patrick Mahomes.
• A gigantic asteroid will wipe out civilization.
If Fields plays well the next 12 games, it would be wonderful, but why trust it after what came before? General manager Ryan Poles would have to be crazy to let that sample size move him from taking a quarterback in 2024. Then again, the Bears and crazy are longtime drinking buddies.
It’s been easy to get attached to Fields. When he runs, defenders look like fools. He’s a great athlete. But too often he can’t look past his first option on pass plays. That worked well Thursday night. There was no reason to look beyond DJ Moore, who had 230 yards on eight receptions. But until Fields learns to see the whole field and figures out how to throw precisely … no, stop. We’re not going there. We’re not getting caught up in that what-if world anymore. We have our mental health to consider.
