I don’t know that I’d call it “impressed” as much as “encouraged.” Here’s what I know (and think): talent wise, he’s special. Few QBs have his talent. While I know he’s still erratic as a passer, I saw him pass for 8 TDs in two games. I’ve been watching the Bears since the late 70s. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bears QB do that. Granted, it was two games, but we’ve seen flashes of what he can do in the passing game. I’d argue even extended flashes. He was the most accurate passer in the PFF era in college, so you know it’s there. That doesn’t happen just by playing for tOSU.
He is probably one of the 5 most talented running QBs we’ve ever seen. He would have smashed the yardage record last year had they been going for it, and he didn’t even start running till like week 5.
As of right now he is a top 20 quarterback in the NFL (granted definitely not elite), but he also has a clear path to being a top 10 quarterback. When I went over each team, I don’t remember a single quarterback in the 10-20 range anywhere near the chance to improve like him. Maybe Lawrence if he’s in that 10-12 range.
His “intangibles” are about as good as you could ask for. Leadership - check. Work ethic - check. Character - check. Toughness - check. Anyone who has ever worked with this kid raves about him. Trent Dilfer ran a QB camp for something like 10 years and he said pretty much anyone who was anybody came through his camp. He said Fields was his 2nd favorite player ever. Tua was #1.
Not everyone matures at the same rate. The Bears have done just about everything they can to fuck this kid up, yet he keeps working hard and improving.
The Bears will be ready to make a big jump next year IMO. The first class of draftees will be full fledged veterans. We are still 2nd in the league in cap space. They have tons of draft capital and could add a lot more if they trade out of the Carolina pick. Hell, if they trade it to the right team they could possibly be looking at the #1 pick three years in a row. That’s a big if, I know, but they look to be swimming in draft capital the way U of I swims in Asian butthole.
I see no reason whatsoever not to bring Justin back for a 4th year. If he isn’t getting it done you can trade him next year. I have zero problem drafting his potential replacement this year either. I have seen his floor and think it’s pretty high. I think at worst he will be a Donovan McNabb/Daunte Culpepper type quarterback. I think there’s a good chance he’ll be better than they were. Shore up his line and give him a guy like Marvin Harrison Jr or Bowers (or both!), coach him correctly, and watch this kid take off.
Right from your first line, I disagree completely.
He has some talent; he has not shown anything to lead me to believe he's "special". He's been nothing but "a guy" since the first game he played. A talented kid, but not some next-level talent, and not someone who's ever shown the ability to harness that consistently and turn it into production.
Yes, he threw for 8 TD in two games. Trubisky had a stretch where he threw for 9 TD in two games, so not only have you seen a guy do that, it was a guy you ripped constantly when he was here. It's worth noting that you intentionally misrepresented something I said during that stretch for literally years to rip on me for being encouraged by his play in a small sample size. Fields also has 4 TD and 5 INT in the other 5 and a half games he's played this season.
You're banking a lot on this notion that he "has a chance to improve" more than other guys, but he simply has not done that. He is still inconsistent, he still has a lot of the exact same problems he has always had.
As I said earlier; the absolute worst case scenario for the Bears is that we're having this discussion on December 2nd, 2024. There just isn't a worse outcome than that, and you're practically begging to put Fields out there next year with another new OC and another new HC - seems pretty likely we are still having this conversation in a year if they run it back with Fields, doesn't it? I don't even know how to respond to the notion that his "floor" is notably high. He has been bad. That's his floor - unacceptably bad QB play.
I disagree with nearly this entire post. You obviously see the potential for something in Fields that through 35 starts he has not shown at all - to me, if he hasn't shown that through 35 starts, the chances that he shows it through 50 starts is pretty miniscule.
This is a guy whose career has mostly been in the bottom tier of league QBs (even now after his improvement your take is "he's a top-20 QB" out of 30) and you're telling me "at worst" he turns into 6x Pro Bowler and borderline HoF candidate Donovan McNabb - but there's a good chance Fields is even better. It's insanity.
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