One by one, all the available quarterbacks were either signed as free agents or acquired via trade over the past week. All but one — Justin Fields.
It was obviously the Bears were looking to unload Fields, but the former 11th overall pick was not generating anything near the interest it would have seemed.
Today, the Steelers made a deal to get Fields that showed just how little value teams saw in him.
Bears are trading Justin Fields for a 2025 6th-round pick that goes to a 4th-round pick based on playtime, per sources. pic.twitter.com/E7JY7K60Wn
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2024
That’s right, a quarterback who just three years ago was selected just outside the top ten — which is franchise quarterback territory — yields a sixth round pick NEXT YEAR.
That is a serious indictment on him as a player. As they say, it only takes one team to think they can turn a player around and they would easily sent more in trade than what the Steelers just gave up. Which makes for quite a statement that no team did.
That statement essentially is that Fields was the main problem the Bears had with their offense over the past three seasons.
The thing is, however, that the first head to roll when the Bears were attempting to find answers was offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
Often times when an OC oversees an offense as bad as the Bears fielded — 28th in points scored in 2022 — and then gets the ax for it, they might have some difficulty finding another OC job quickly.
That was not the case for Getsy who was one of the first hires by new head coach Antonio Pierce. Or at least he was the choice after they missed out on getting Kliff Kingsbury.
Let’s be clear here, this is all about perception. Which means either Getsy or Fields could prove everyone wrong here. But for now, the opinion the Raiders that it was Fields who was the problem with the Bears offense, and not Getsy, would appear to be shared by the rest of the NFL.