Recent reports have suggested that the Bears, who seem like a sure bet to have two top-10 picks in the 2024 draft, will select a quarterback in the first round. However, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes that Chicago will have to be “blown away” by a quarterback prospect to pull the trigger and move on from incumbent Justin Fields.
That is the same mindset that general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus had when embarking on their first offseason with the Bears in 2022. The duo inherited Fields from Chicago’s prior regime, but at the time, the Ohio State product had just finished his rookie campaign, and it made sense to give him some time to live up to his own lofty draft status (Fields was the No. 11 overall pick of the 2021 draft).
Since then, Fields has firmly cemented himself as a tremendous weapon when carrying the ball while proving to be more of a mixed bag as a passer. He has missed the Bears’ last four contests due to a dislocated thumb, and he will have the final seven games of the season to convince the organization to use its draft assets on non-quarterback talent. Eberflus believes that represents enough of an audition opportunity to determine Fields’ future with the franchise.
“I think seven weeks is enough time to show consistency and for him to be the high performer that we expect him to be,” Eberflus said (h/t Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com). “I know he’s had some good performances this year, certainly the last few have been solid.”
Of course, even if Fields performs well down the stretch, he may not stick in Chicago. By virtue of their 2023 trade with the Panthers, who presently have a 1-8 record, the Bears could find themselves in position to draft a collegiate QB like USC’s Caleb Williams or UNC’s Drake Maye without even having to trade up the board. Those players are widely believed to be generational talents, and assuming that the club agrees with the prevailing industry assessment — in other words, if Poles and Eberflus are “blown away” by at least one of Williams and Maye — Fields’ upcoming audition could really be a showcase for other teams.
A September report, which surfaced when the Bears were mired in a 13-game losing streak, suggested that both Eberflus and Poles were on the hot seat, and if ownership moves on from them at the end of the year, it obviously does not matter what they think of Fields or the top quarterbacks in the 2024 class. Fortunately for the power brokers, the Bears have gone 3-3 over their last six games, and Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune makes it sounds as if Poles will return in 2024 and will be using the remainder of the season not only to evaluate Fields, but to evaluate Eberflus. Indeed, Biggs says Poles will need to determine if he wants a more offensive-minded coach — which could be especially relevant if he drafts Williams or Maye — and will want to see if the team remains competitive under Eberflus’ watch.
New team president Kevin Warren will obviously have considerable input as to the futures of both Eberflus and Poles.
Yes we will be blown away and trade Fields and draft a good qb
I sure hope so, but Poles scares me. The decision should be a slam dunk, Fields doesn’t know how to win 6 – 26 now!!
Wins are not a QB stat lol
All Hail Martellus Bennett!
Disagree. Neither of those college QB’s are “likely” to be better than Fields. The coaching sucks in Chicago and that’s what needs to change – ediecislly the OC. It makes it hard to judge the talent with such crappy coaching.
Today’s loss to the Lions is ALL on the coaches.
I’d rather they were blown away in the search for a new Head Coach. Patrick got knocked on his can chasing unicorns on a play that was blown dead. Feeney couldn’t figure out the snap count. Kramer is on the practice squad. Make of that what you will. You didn’t have to be a fortune teller to see that they were going to lose this game. The basic difference between the two teams was the Coaching staffs. It doesn’t really matter whether Fields is any good or not at this point. This team has ruined him for 4 years and wasted his development so badly that the best play, The only play really is to just start over. I doubt he trusts anybody in the organization anymore.
“Today’s loss to the Lions is ALL on the coaches.”
Fields standing around like he’s waiting for Uber and not seeing Hutchinson barreling toward him might be on him.
Fields has been playing the QB position his whole life. He can’t read an NFL pocket and takes a ton of sacks. He doesn’t see open WRs when he runs. That has zero to do with coaching. Way too many Fields apologists thinking he’s this great QB when he isn’t. He has a few more games to show if he can stay an NFL starting QB.
The only coach on this team that might be worth anything is Getsy. And he’s hamstrung because you can tell he wants a West Coast offense with a West Coast QB and that isn’t Fields. His offense is fine when the ball comes out on time and quickly. Bagent does this but doesn’t have the arm Fields has. It’s based on a QB quickly going through his reads and delivering the ball on time. Fields doesn’t like Getsy. He said so. Getsy doesn’t like Fields. He says it every time he doesn’t change the offense to suit Fields. So you have 2 guys who hate each other that are supposed to depend on each other. You can’t fix this relationship. Stop trying. Poles hired Eberflus. That’s on him. Eberflus hired 2 coaches who were demented weirdos and and OC who’s system totally failed the QB he had on hand. That’s on him. His defensive philosophy stinks. The bend don’t break defenses are outdated. If you sit back in today’s NFL you get picked apart. The rules have changed. You can’t touch receivers anymore fair or not. THE RULES HAVE CHANGED. If you can’t figure that mini tidbit out how can you be a Head Coach in the NFL? Brutal.
I was with you up until “an OC whose system failed the QB”. A west coast offense is easy to run, quick passes and slants. Fields (in his 3rd season) still hasn’t proven he can throw the ball consistently yet, so why give him a more complicated offense to fail in? Look at Stroud. No name WRs, OL line injuries, and a D minded HC. Sorry, but no excuses for mobile Fields taking sacks and looking lost in the pocket at times in year 3. He looks more like a coddled, spoiled high school and collegiate athlete that can’t handle the big leagues.
Not sure what Poles saw in Eberflus, a few good years as a decent DC doesn’t impress anyone. But then again, no one knew Andy Reid would make a great HC either. Bears are a historic NFL organ-I-zation. They deserve a quality, proven HC like Jim Harbaugh.
I’m glad someone else sees this too. The guy can’t play QB. Can’t read the defense or if he can it’s easy to fool him. Can’t hit the open WR or place a ball where only the receiver can get the ball. His one benefit is his legs and those don’t last long.
I have called him Kapernick Jr ever since he played at OSU. I haven’t been proven differently yet.
LMAO. OK Bears. Will be more than happy for my team to trade up
Or. And hear me out.
Trade him
Draft Maye
Fix the offense with picks
Hire Ben Johnson to develop Maye
That’s assuming Ben Johnson is ready to leave Detroit now, he chose to stay once already.
Bears are a dysfunctional but a Maye + Harrison Jr combo could be very tempting for a HC candidate. Plus other draft capital. Could be walking into a decent situation..
He will absolutely want a HC job. And the Bears could be a great spot. Especially if Warren decides that Poles and Ebeflop, had their chance and blew it. He didn’t hire either one and with 2 top picks and a lot of cap space, I could see Warren cleaning house.
This statement was made before they had to watch this game and be reminded of why everyone assumes they’ll draft a QB. Fields is bad. There’s no getting around it.
Fields isn’t in the top 5 reasons as to why the Bears lost that game.
Doesn’t change the fact he’s bad.
Fields is 6-25 as an NFL starter, and takes too many sacks and still turns the ball over. He’s the reason they lost alot of games.
What?
Riiight.
They would need to be like Dolphins. Hire a coach that fixes the QB they don’t want to give up on or create offense for that QB.
Bears are never going to be a destination for FAs so they can try to accumulate picks. Plenty of teams will trade for 1 of those picks. Williams, Maye, Penix are the top 3 QBs just be in position for 1.
Other than another ot, the offense is pretty good ( outside of qb). Maye is the qb that looks like a sure thing.
Yeah ok.. he’s been in the league 3 years what has he done to say he’s better than Caleb Williams or Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels? You can throw in JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix in the mix as well. If they end up getting the first and second pick in the draft they most certainly will draft a better QB. They’ll probably trade the first pick for another ransom and take whatever QB is there at 2 probably Caleb Williams. Then there will be a team towards the middle of the first round who will be in need of a new QB and get their first round pick for him. I’m looking at LV, TB and ATL who he might be better fits for. I’m not saying Justin Fields is a bad player. He’s just not good for Chicago.
That’s exactly what they said last year. And they completely whiffed scouting Stroud.
They weren’t the only team. Teams whiff on QBs all the time. They needed that OT more I would argue, especially knowing they would have a top pick this year with more draftable QBs coming out.
Would you roll with Fields again next season? I wouldn’t.
I wouldn’t roll with Fields. He shows flashes but is bad with the game on the line in the 4th quarter. Most games come down to the final possession and Fields just doesn’t execute in those moments. Trade him at the end of the year. Some team will want him.
So did carolina.
And so would have texans had lovie smith lost that final game.
Who knew Lovie winning that game would have turned out like this. Everyone thought Lovie was giving the texans the middle finger. He wound up giving them a franchise mvp caliber qb sitting at 6-4.
Even funnier is the Texans turned the Watson trade into Green, Anderson, Pierce, and Dell
The Bears are hoping the NFL finally bans the forward pass in 2024.
Isn’t their leading QB for yards passed some dude back in the 1960’s still?
Nice photo of two guys soon to be featured in a “Dead Man Walking” movie.
We can only hope you’re right Lemon.
Liars
There’s just one issue with this “The Bears will definitely draft a QB in 2024…” …And that issue is making an erroneous assumption that the names being thrown around are all :hands-down:, :guaranteed”, “sure-fire”, “can’t miss”, “absolutely successful”, “how can you not TAKE this guy??” prospects. It’s the “shiny new toy syndrome. Didn’t a whole lot of people think these same things of Fields just three short years ago??? Just sayin’; it’s not like these college QBs are guaranteed NFL successes…
No…fields was the 4th qb taken and outside the top 10. He wasn’t a “can’t miss” prospect and was never in consideration for the top pick. The can’t miss guy was Trevor Lawrence in that draft
And Trevor has been good but not generational, so far.
That may be true but I do just want to mention the other two QBs taken in that draft were Zach Wilson #2 and Trey Lance #3. I can remember the hype train going crazy-stupid in the lead-up to that draft. And, as arty has pointed out, Lawrence has only looked “good”, not “generational”. So the point I’m trying to make is why do we think all of the top prospects in next year’s draft are reason enough to move on from Fields? And I’m far from defending Fields here, just asking that question many seem to overlook.
The draft always has been a crap shoot. Whether the player is the wrong fit for the coaching staff, injuries, laziness creeps in, or is simply just not able to live up the to media hype portrayed abut him.
We already know a solid 25-30% of 1st rounders this year will fall into one of these categories. Happens every year!
The Bears gave Mike Glennon $40MM for a single win so apparently it doesn’t take much to trigger the “Blown Away” meter in Chicago.
You and Unclemike beat up the Bears worse than I do Bill! I forgot about Glennon’s deal.
Bears fans are loyal fans.
Up to a point. And the point gets duller failure after failure. We’d settle for competent at this point. And this ain’t it.
“Only” $18.5 million of Glennon’s Bears contract was guaranteed. He did not get paid $40+ million by the Bears. He would have if he played for them 3 seasons but they released him after one.
I wouldn’t put much stock in the words of anyone on the Bears front office or coaching staff – as they’ll all likely be fired before the draft occurs.
Off the wall – but what if the Bears keep Fields and use him like NO uses Hill or like what Illinois did with Williams? Make him a receiver or an option like Hill. Draft a QB?
Justin Fields has never had elite players on the OL and barely at WR. The OC needs to be fired as Fields is not going to last long being a QB/RB option offense. They can only hope that somehow they get in position to draft a Jaylen Daniels LSU as a potential replacement.
I’m kind of curious what the Bear fans think Fields is worth in a trade. Low 1st, or high 2nd?
It’s not what fans think, but what GMs of other teams think. At best they get a 3rd Rd pick.