Kyle Brandt of NFL Network is a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, so he’s seen his share of horrendous quarterback play.
Historically, the Bears have never got it right at quarterback. Jay Cutler is their all-time passing leader with 23,443 yards. That tells you everything you need to know.
The Bears had the opportunity to select Patrick Mahomes in 2017, but they picked Mitch Trubisky at No. 2 overall. Talk about a massive miss. Perhaps first overall pick Caleb Williams will turn the franchise around and break the QB curse.
Justin Fields is the latest first-round pick quarterback to fall flat on his face in Chicago. Fields faced a dire situation, however. He had two head coaches and three different offensive coordinators in his three years in the Windy City.
Brandt still has faith in Fields, but he is a little cautious. He thinks Fields needs to display more consistency.
“I got a few. I mean, it’s cheap, it’s really cheap. He’s a burst player. He’ll give you an amazing quarter, or a great half, but usually it ends up losing for the Bears, and it’s a lot of the time his fault,” Brandt said on Mina Kimes’ podcast. “There was this amazing civil war between the Fields apologists and the people that were actually saying it’s his fault. The answer was both. The Bears didn’t support him, and he did make a lot of poor plays in big moments. You’ll get something, but I don’t think you’ll get it consistently.”
In March, Jason Goff of NBC Sports Chicago expressed similar sentiments on Fields.
“He was part of the problem. I think Justin Fields got caught up in the worst wasteland you can have to develop a quarterback,” Goff said on Bomani Jones’ podcast The Right Time with Bomani Jones. “Matt Nagy’s on his way out, he wants to play Andy Dalton. He throws him in his first game and says, ‘Here play football.’ And then he gets sacked nine times by Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney and that Cleveland Browns defense. That’s his introduction to it.
“Second year, (general manager) Ryan Poles comes in, ‘Hey, I got to tear this down, I want to build a different way.’ The youngest roster by far in the league. He’s throwing to special teamers. But also, he’s doing things that I didn’t expect him to do, like take off and run as often as he did. Is it all on Justin Fields? A sizeable portion of it is. But, I’m not one of these people that think that this wasn’t one of the worst situations you could drop quarterback in.”
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Russell Wilson is in pole position to be the Steelers’ starting quarterback this season. Fields will be given a fair opportunity at the job, but unless something unforeseen happens, Wilson will be the starter in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons. Wilson was significantly better at OTAs and minicamp.
Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes there isn’t a real competition and Fields’ agent is keeping the battle alive.
“A lot of it has to do with agents and what they feed to the national reporters. I think Justin Fields’ agent wants people to believe that Justin is in this and that he’s still a viable quarterback on the open market.” Fittipaldo said on the 93.7 The Fan’s Joe Starkey Show. “Whatever happens this year, whether he’s sitting on the bench all season I think his agent wants to keep his name hot. It’s only natural for your rep to do this. Part of this is on the Steelers too, right? Because [Wilson and Fields] are both only signed to one-year contracts.”