Football teams go as the quarterback goes and, to date, the Chicago Bears have rarely gone very far lacking a superstar at the position. They have just two postseason appearances since making it to the NFC Championship Game in 2010. Both of those resulted in losses in the Wild Card round. They are on their fifth head coach and 15th quarterback in that span with Matt Eberflus and Justin Fields, respectively.
That could all be about to change, though.
“The people of Chicago have been waiting all their lives, like a century-plus,” said ESPN’s Mike Greenberg on “Get Up” on August 1. “What they are about to have – write it down: Justin Fields is going to be the next superstar quarterback in the NFL.”
Bears’ Justin Fields the ‘Next Superstar Quarterback’ in NFL
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Fields is coming off an impressive second season in terms of his rushing production. But he admittedly left plenty to be desired as a passer. To that end, the recent praise he received from one of the top voices in sports media is notable.
“I would like to take a moment to remind you of a young man that I fear you may have forgotten. Once upon a time, he was the No. 1 prospect in his class – he was a spot ahead of Trevor Lawrence. Then he threw 67 touchdowns and nine interceptions in college and led his team to the playoffs both seasons that he started.
“Of course, you know who I’m talking about. He’s Justin Fields. And it’s understandable if all those things had slipped your mind based on what has happened since.”
"It's the experience factor."@ChicagoBears head coach Matt Eberflus talks about Justin Fields entering year three with more skill at WR.@StaceyDales @scottpioli51 pic.twitter.com/1uOxFnCOfs
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 1, 2023
From there, Greenberg painted the grim picture that has been the Bears’ offense. That includes ranking 32nd in passing yards with just 2,219 this past season, though Fields did finish with 2,242 individually.
Still, that is the sixth-fewest passing yards by a 15-game starter in NFL history, per Stathead.
Fittingly, the two lowest marks belong to a pair of former Bears players: Jim Harbaugh (1993) and Kyle Orton (2005).
“He has won just five of his 25 starts, and he has fumbled, been sacked, or intercepted 140 times – that’s the most of any player over those two years. It’s been so unsightly, that some people thought that the Bears should have used the No. 1 pick this spring on a new quarterback.”
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Greenberg laid out how Fields sported the fourth-best QBR in the NFL from Week 7 – when he made his now infamous point of being “tired” of getting “close” and failing to score on offense – through the end of the regular season.
The ESPN host noted Fields trailed only Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
He called the latter two the “modern template” for NFL quarterback development.
“They’re talented, in need of patience, and coaching and, now, look at them. But Fields is exactly the same. Frankly, he was a better prospect than either of those guys were. The final piece of the puzzle came this offseason with the acquisition of D.J. Moore. They’re hoping he can be to Fields what Stefon Diggs and A.J. Brown were to his predecessors.
And I’m here to tell you, they got that absolutely right. All of it.”
LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Vick Weigh In on Justin Fields
The NFL released the results of their top 100 players as voted by their peers in July. Fields’ ranking ruffled feathers coming in at No. 86 overall. That is 10 spots higher than Lawrence who is coming off an impressive second season of his own. Lawrence snapped a five-year playoff drought for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
But NFL Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson explained just why the players’ sentiments make sense, at least from his highly qualified perspective.
“Most fans are thinking team success…and rightfully so,” Tomlinson said on NFL Total Access on July 26. “But players think playmaking ability…Trevor Lawrence can not do what Justin Fields can do with his legs…But, yet Justin Fields can throw the ball like Trevor Lawrence.”
Fields has often been compared to former 4-time Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick.
The two met up at Halas Hall this offseason, and Fields snagged second place behind Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens on the all-time single-season quarterback rushing yards list from Vick this past season. He also broke Vicks’s single-game rushing mark for a quarterback this past season.
“I think Justin is going to take that next step next year,” Vick said in February, per Bears Now by Chat Sports. “Just take a page out of Jalen’s playbook: quarterback who wasn’t in the same systems for multiple years or consecutive years, and then gets the opportunity in that second year to showcase what they can do and how much they’ve grown in the system. I think Jalen put that on display this year, and, ultimately, the door’s open for Justin to do that next year.”
Vick pointed to the coaching staff and weaponry as necessary components to that breakout as well. But the Bears feel they have adequately addressed both now over the last two offseasons. The mantle would all seem to be there for the taking for Fields in Year 3.
Main Photo: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports
