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Enough Is Enough

Image: Bearswire.usatoday.com

Ever since the end of the 2022 NFL regular season some NFL fans and analysts have been clamoring for the Bears to trade Justin Fields and draft a QB #1 overall. Every morning someone new is posting their opinion on the matter and a majority of them are negative. I’m here to tell you the Bears aren’t trading Justin Fields. They would be out of their mind to do so and here’s why.

Where’s His Help?

Let’s start with the most obvious thing if you watched Bears football this season, Fields had nobody to throw to. The Chicago Bears only fielded 1 wide receiver with over 1,000 career receiving yards, that being Darnell Mooney. The Bears lack of a receiving game outside of Mooney helped contribute to the third year receiver’s numbers declining this past season. It’s not that the Bears couldn’t catch the ball as they were 31st in dropped passes last season. It’s just that they couldn’t get open. In what felt like every drop back this season, Fields was having to make magic happen in order to push the ball downfield. The lack of separation by his receivers was killing any chance he had of outright winning games for the Bears like some analysts and fans were expecting. In reality, Fields is a great player but he’s not superman. He needs some help on the offensive side of the football in order to silence some doubters.

He’s Steadily Improving


Image: Bearswire.usatoday.com

Many would argue the Bears had way less on offense in 2022 compared to 2021 so the fact that Fields improved from one year to the next is quite impressive. Fields improved in almost every statistical metric last season, including passing touchdowns and yards, QB rating, and completion percentage. He did all that while getting sacked on more of his drop backs compared to 2021. Per Pro Football Reference, in 2021 Fields was sacked on 11.8% of his drop backs. Remember how bad that offensive line felt? This season was even worse as Fields was sacked on nearly 14.7% of his drop backs. Fields was still running for his life and had nobody to throw to, yet consistently improved as the season went on. For reference, Fields’ highlight reel from this past season posted by the NFL was 20 minutes long. The Bears haven’t had a player like that on the roster in a long time and they would be out of their mind to try and change that. I know that and I believe they know that too.
Ryan Poles made it clear as day in his postseason presser saying
“We had good conversations. I’m excited for the direction he’s going. As I mentioned before, he knows where he has to improve. I think he mentioned that the other day. We’re excited about his development and where he goes next. He showed ability to be impactful with his legs. There’s flashes with his arm. Now if we can put that together, I think we have something really good.”
Poles knows his future in Chicago could be shaped depending on his moves this offseason. It seems like Justin Fields is his guy and I don’t believe that will change.

Analysts Want Clicks

All in all, with everything on the table there is no reason for the Bears to even consider trading Justin Fields. This is a team that hasn’t had stability at quarterback since Jay Cutler, who’s arguably the best quarterback statistically the franchise has ever seen and that’s saying a lot. Why would they ever get rid of a guy he’s going to be better? The only reason it’s being brought up is because of people in the media wanting publicity. Analysts know what will stir up the fans and get people talking about them. Bad publicity is still publicity to them. They may not agree with what they’re saying at all, but it gets people talking about them so who cares, right? The one thing that they all fail to mention however is that if Fields was in this year’s draft class, he would easily be going number one overall. By that logic, the Bears should be sticking with Fields.

My Overall Point

The point I’m trying to make is fairly simple. The Bears aren’t trading Justin Fields. He is their quarterback of the future and this franchise would be very unwise to let him go. Ryan Poles and the new regime are well aware of that. The haul the Bears could get by trading the #1 pick would more than likely be bigger and that’s the route I expect them to take. Chicago has their quarterback of the future and there are much larger needs on this roster. They will not take a QB number one overall. It’s time for the slander on Justin Fields to stop, enough is enough.

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