This weekend, Justin Fields remained sidelined due to a thumb injury and some in the media took advantage of his absence to belittle him.
It’s another example of the poor treatment Fields has unfairly received since arriving in the Windy City, and now it appears that the Bears organization might be throwing him under the bus as well.
After trading up with the New York Giants, Chicago selected Fields with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and he was expected to help restore the franchise to the glory days long past.
Fields was a star in his two seasons as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, compiling a 20-2 record while throwing for 5,373 yards, 63 TDs and 9 INTs. He also added another 867 yards and 15 TDs on the ground.
While the expectations were high for the rookie, Fields had the frame and talent to carry the load.
But he was thrust into former head coach Matt Nagy’s system, which had him running for his life every week.
Despite playing behind a horrendous offensive line his first two seasons, Fields managed to throw for over 4,000 yards, 24 TDs and 21 INTs in 25 games.
Yet it was his legs that garnered the most attention, and with the way he was running for his life on Sundays, that wasn’t a surprise. Fields rushed for 420 yards and 2 TDs in his rookie season and then exploded for 1,143 rushing yards and 8 TDs in year two.
The team went 5-20 in his 25 starts, but there was no doubting Fields’ potential.
Heading into this season, the team knew Fields needed weapons. Taking a page from the Bills and Eagles, Chicago traded for Panthers star receiver DJ Moore and things looked promising, especially after Moore exploded 230 yards and 3 TDs in a blowout of the Commanders on Thursday night football.
It appeared that the Fields-Moore connection had arrived, and with a few more additions, the Bears could take some big strides forward.
But the following week, Fields hurt his hand and was replaced by former DII QB Tyson Bagent.
Bagent displayed a little magic in a win against the Raiders, but a loss to the Chargers this past Sunday popped his bubble despite NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth doing their very best to hype the young player up at the expense of the injured and more talented Fields.
“These couple of games, however long Bagent stays the starting quarterback, they’re gonna have Justin Fields study this guy,” said a gushing Collinsworth.
Fortunately for Fields, he has strong supporters back in Chicago, and they were not letting Collinsworth and Tirico’s ridiculous momentary love fest with the NFL’s newest underdog story go unscathed.
It was a “bus tossing” said 670 The Score host Laurence Holmes.
“They treated it as ‘There might be a new sheriff in town,” he added.
NFL quarterbacks are forced to both the heat and the credit with things go bad or good, respectively, it feels like Fields gets more flack than other QBs outside of Russell Wilson.
To suggest that Fields needs to learn from Bagent, who is the Bears’ version of Brock Purdy, is ridiculous.
It’s something Score midday host Dan Bernstein called a “back-stabbing whisper campaign” by the Bears.
“The story is this stuff, the whispers, the, ‘Hey, it’d be nice if Justin could do that.’ They’re telling you who they would prefer to coach,” said Bernstein. “They would much rather have somebody (Bagent) who could run their stuff, get the ball out, make their reads rather than have to figure out how to best use the talents of a unicorn (in Fields).”
Bernstein is right for it feels like the Bears don’t know how to utilize Fields so they’d rather go simple than work with a dynamic talent.
The Bears conveniently forget that Fields endured and survived Matt Nagy and was forced to become a sprinter in year two. This year he had a primary target in Moore and was just beginning to build a strong connection with him when he dislocated his thumb.
Now Fields will be subjected to more hate, condescending commentary and unfair critiques, something he faced at the beginning of this season when a foolish debate erupted over whether the Bears should trade Fields and take Oklahoma star Bryce Young with the first overall pick. The debate was fanned when “experts” like Todd McShay ridiculously ran with the notion.
This is the same Todd McShay who felt the Eagles would essentially be downgrading the team by making Jalen Hurts their starter.
Fortunately, that debate flamed out quickly and the Bears ended up trading the number one overall pick to the Panthers for DJ Moore and draft capital, which will hopefully help them rebuild for the future.
The Bears have confirmed that Bagent will start again this week as Fields isn’t ready yet.
Bagent will have a few moments, but if you think he’ll do what Justin Fields would do, just ask DJ Moore how frustrated he was after only being targeted six times on Sunday night.
Justin Fields deserves better, and if Chicago isn’t going to do right by him, then they should send him to a team that will.
