A new era is upon us with the offseason additions of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Gone are two quarterbacks who wound up being experiments and another who the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t entrust to hand the keys to the car.
Fields’ previous team didn’t trust him, either, as evidenced by the Chicago Bears’ surrendering for a can of I.C. Lite.
But for Mike Tomlin, the reasons why Chicago didn’t want their former first-round draft pick around anymore doesn’t matter; it’s water under the bridge.
“I’m not judging anything that was done in Chicago,” Tomlin said at the NFL annual league meeting last month. “That’s not my business. I just look at the pedigree and the talent, the things that are not relative to coaching.”
For Tomlin, it’s about what he can do for the Pittsburgh Steelers and not what he did (or didn’t) do for the Chicago Bears.
Armed with a fresh start, Fields has an opportunity to redeem himself. Was it Fields, the Bears or a combination of the two? That’s in the rearview, and the young quarterback can forge a new path, especially if he remains in the Black and Gold beyond the 2024 season.