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It sounds like quarterback Justin Fields will spend the rest of the 2023 NFL season trying to convince the Chicago Bears he’s their long-term answer at the position.
“If the season ended now and the Bears had the top pick in the 2024 draft — they’re projected to own it, via their March trade with the [Carolina Panthers] — my best-educated guess is they’d take USC quarterback Caleb Williams and try to find somewhere to trade Fields,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano said for a piece published Wednesday morning. “But if Fields lights it up over the next two months and shows improvement in the areas in which the Bears want to see it, it’s not out of the question he could be their starter again.”
Fields missed time this season with a dislocated right thumb and hasn’t erased questions about his abilities to excel as a passer at the highest level when healthy.
According to ESPN stats, Fields begins Week 12 ranked 23rd in the NFL among qualified players with a 44.9 adjusted QBR and 25th with a 62.7% completion percentage on the campaign. The 2021 first-round draft pick has thus far tossed 12 touchdown passes and six interceptions over seven games, and he also contributed 341 rushing yards and a score on 65 carries over those outings.
Both Graziano and fellow ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler acknowledged that it’s unclear if Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren, hired this past January, will part ways with head coach Matt Eberflus and/or general manager Ryan Poles after Week 18.
“Eberflus is 6-22 in Chicago — it’s hard for any coach to come back from that unless Warren and the organization have incredible patience,” Fowler explained.
While it’s commonly thought that a new head coach will almost always prefer to attach himself to a quarterback of his choosing, Fowler added he thinks that “Chicago likes Fields enough that it would have to fall in love with a prospect in order to move on from their current starter.”
For what it’s worth, Warren and his front office will have plenty of time from Jan. 8 through the opening night of the 2024 draft to “fall in love” with who could become Fields’ replacement as soon as next spring.
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