To be fair to Fields, he was a rookie in 2021 and was Dalton’s backup at the start of the year/wasn’t supposed to start as many games as he did on what was a rebuilding/bad team, but Dalton ended up injured for a decent chunk.

The 2022 roster was horrendous. Worst scoring defense in the league, second-worst yds/play defense in the league. Bad OL, best WR was probably Darnell Mooney (who’s like a mid WR 2 / good WR 3) and every other WR was trash. RBs were decent but not great, Kmet was just okay/on the way to developing into “good” but not quite there yet. Fields was probably anywhere from the second- to fourth-best performer on that team.

Overall, there just wasn’t a huge jump in performance this year, which I think is what led to this. There was a small jump, but not enough for them to (in their opinion) pass on a top QB prospect. He did go 4-3 after the Montez Sweat trade, which is a small sample size, but also shows he’s capable of winning when there’s at least a decent core around him. Passer rating has continued to improve, and DJ Moore seemed to like him as his QB/respect him as his QB more than he did Baker Mayfield.

I think he’s simultaneously overrated by some and underrated by many at the same time. Probably kinda like Dak (who is better than Fields, but I’m comparing the wide variety of perceptions compared to their actual abilities). Just overall weird perceptions in both directions about him.

I think he’s without a doubt one of the best 32 QBs in the NFL, probably closer to around 20th right now, still with potential to get better, but the musical chairs at QB (mainly Cousins going to ATL, they weren’t going to send him in division to MN) and his contract situation led to this trade return/interest around the league. I think the Bears would’ve made the playoffs with him next year (and I feel bad he doesn’t get the opportunity with Keenan Allen and a center that doesn’t suck), and would’ve stuck with him if they just had #9 and not Carolina’s pick at #1 overall. I also think if players/media/fans were robots/it was a computer game, they’d value having Fields on the roster (even with Williams) much much more than the return they got, but wanted a completely clean break before bringing in Williams.

ETA: Clarifier too based on my name. I haven’t been an OSU fan in nearly 15 years. I’ve been a Bears fan since I moved to Chi in 2017, and watched a ton of Fields/Bears in the past three years (including two games this past season in Soldier Field).

This post was edited on 3/17/24 at 11:15 am