Did the Bears draft another Mitch Trubisky in Justin Fields?
By John Buhler
Justin Fields may go the way of Mitch Trubisky if he does not improve with the Chicago Bears.
Death, taxes and the Chicago Bears having absolutely no clue what they are doing at the quarterback position…
Forever chasing the Ghost of Sid Luckman, the Bears run through quarterbacks like the late Larry King did through wives. The only NFL franchise with less of a clue of how to manage the game’s most important position is the Cleveland Browns. Although Justin Fields offered a ton of promise coming out of THE Ohio State University, he is closer to Mitch Trubisky than you would ever realize.
It is not entirely his fault, but it is starting to become evident that Fields is not the franchise savior.
Chicago Bears swap out Mitch Trubisky for Justin Fields and results are the same
Although both were taken by the Bears in the first round of their respective NFL Drafts, Trubisky and Fields had a hard time beating out less talented quarterbacks at their Power Five schools. Trubisky needed a few years at UNC before Marquise Williams exhausted his eligibility. Eventually, Fields may have overtaken Jake Fromm at Georgia, but he opted to transfer after only one season.
While running is a big part of their games, throwing the ball has left a lot to be desired. Fields is a more natural thrower of the football than Trubisky, but his inherently loopy motion has been exposed in the NFL, as it would have in the SEC. Fields thrived playing in the Big Ten with the best players on the best team, but he is currently dealing with anything but that now with the Bears.
Admittedly, it was hard to understand why Fields fell all the way to No. 11 in the 2021 NFL Draft. For most of the draft process, he was viewed as the No. 2 overall prospect behind only Trevor Lawrence. While it made sense for the Bears to trade up to get him, why did Zach Wilson and Trey Lance go ahead of him in the draft? In truth, the speed of the game may be a bit too much for him.
Yes, it may have been a short week, but this game was at home vs. the Washington Commanders, a team that is not exactly highly functional either. They too have had one mess after another at the quarterback position. Yet, Carson Wentz and Ron Rivera managed to win a tight one in primetime on the road at Soldier Field to get to 2-4. This is the same record the Bears have now.
Ultimately, this is way more of an organizational problem than it is with Fields. Bears fans have had enough and some have asked for the McCaskeys to sell the team. They won’t, but Bears fans will still show up to watch one god-awful monstrosity of an offense after another. Like Trubisky, the talent is there with Fields, but it is not close to enough to overcome Chicago’s dysfunction.
We’ve got until about December before we have to consider that Fields may not be the guy here.