Not everybody was on board with trading Justin Fields when it happened. Lots of fans felt it was unnecessary. The young quarterback finally appeared to be turning a corner, playing some of his best football down the stretch of last season. They went 5-4 in the last nine games. It seemed like he’d done enough to earn another year. However, GM Ryan Poles disagreed. He felt the team had to get better at passing the football if it was going to make the leap into the upper echelon of the NFC. Fields hadn’t made enough progress in that department to justify passing on another quarterback at #1 overall.
So the Bears traded him to Pittsburgh for a conditional 6th round pick, then selected Caleb Williams with the top pick in the draft. Fans eventually came around to the decision, realizing there was nothing they could do. They watched more of Williams’ work, listened to experts, and soon understood the Bears’ decision was sensible. Not everybody is on board, though. Former NFL quarterback Steve Beuerlein stated on The Bull Pen with Adam The Bull that he still thinks trading Fields was a mistake.
Not for the reason you’re thinking, though.
“I think there were a lot of things working against him [Fields] in Chicago. Mainly the instability and overall talent around him. Not being given the opportunity to grow in a system with a lot of weapons and different offensive philosophies that would fit him.”
“My big statement on this whole evolution of what happened with Justin Fields, I thought the Bears made a huge mistake not trading that first pick.”
“I think the Bears, if they trade away that first pick, commit to Fields for one more year, and I know the sentiment in Chicago is that Caleb Williams is an elite franchise QB… what they would’ve gotten in exchange for that first pick could’ve solidified that football team in a lot of areas, and prepared and set the table to go on a really nice run either this year or next year.”
This sentiment goes back to the Bears’ decision on Justin Fields in 2022.
They held the #1 overall pick that year as well. Poles chose to trade it rather than take Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud, believing Fields needed another season of evaluation. The roster also wasn’t that good. By trading the pick to Carolina, they received wide receiver D.J. Moore, right tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, and Williams. They still have a 2nd round pick in 2025 as well. Nobody can argue that trade elevated the team far more rapidly than expected. Beuerlein believes giving up the rights to Williams likely would’ve yielded even more.
Logistically, it makes sense. More high-value assets should mean better chances to find great players. The problem is the Chicago Bears understood the underlying reality of the NFL. You only get so many chances to land a premium quarterback. There was no way the team was landing the #1 pick again. It was either ride it out with Justin Fields or pray for the good fortune of a franchise QB falling to them in the 2025 draft. Poles wasn’t willing to play those odds. Beuerlein’s perspective isn’t shocking. He was a 4th round pick in 1987 and ended up having a successful career. It is likely he thought the Bears would be able to find somebody.
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He didn’t take into account this team’s track record at the position.
@barry . . . and to your point, who creates the “system?” Some people here think that rookie quarterbacks create the system. So the same people are fine with dropping a few million on a bunch of clipboard holders? If I wanted clipboard holders, I’d go to Staples and drop $100 on clipboards and go to a high school and give everyone in P.E. $15 an hour to hold the damn clipboards. I’d probably get better results from the kids. Your watching of the second halves is spot on. You should hAve been picking up half of Getsy’s salary.( the… Read more »
Pat Mahomes is a system quarterback. He’s a great system quarterback, but he’s still a product of a hyper-effective system. So was Tom Brady. The best pure QB1, independent of his system, is probably Josh Allen. The most athletically gifted QB is Justin Fields. And Fields’ time in Chicago was the polar opposite of those examples. He was in a hyper-*deficient* system: Luke Getsy essentially put him in handcuffs every second half. Watching every second of game action, I came to genuinely believe the 2023 Bears would’ve been more effective on offense if they just didn’t have an offensive coordinator… Read more »
PoochPest is on Fire, today. High 5!
@Rocketrider I know you have a low opinion of Fields and have bought into the Williams hype, but anyone who talks about Mahomes, Brady and even Purdy, should remember that their head coaches were Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and Kyle Shanahan. It makes a difference. Bigly. Belichick was a defensive focused coach, but he knew HOW to coach an entire team, and Brady had the benefit of a coaching family to focus on his quarterback techniques. Mahomes had a baseball and Kliff Kingsbury background, which was why Reid sat him for a year. But Reid, like each of these coaches,… Read more »
Erik, Fields wasn’t “turning a corner.” He was coaching himself. Beuerlein is another highly touted quarterback who never got any support, and recognizes it when he sees it. Let’s all be clear. If teams can win Super Bowls with Trent Dilfer, Joe Flacco, or Tom Brady (in Tampa), the level of the TEAM, and whether the coaching staff can teach, and integrate disparate experiences matters more than who’s at the trigger. Doug Pederson got the Eagles to the playoffs with Carson Wendz and then won with Nick Foles, both struggled away from a structured coaching team. Neither has had the… Read more »