Suspension; Justin Fields was suspended definitely his not playing for Chicago Bears due to several errors…
Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season is in the books, where the Chicago Bears enjoyed a well-deserved bye week following a 12-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12. Quarterback Justin Fields committed a couple of fourth-quarter fumbles, but he led his team back for the game-winning field goal.
When evaluating quarterback play, a trusted metric is ESPN’s Total QBR rating, which does more than take into account statistics. Because, as we know, stats can lie.
According to ESPN, Adjusted Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) “values the quarterback on all play types on a 0-100 scale adjusted for the strength of opposing defenses faced.”
So where does Fields and other NFL quarterbacks, including the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, Bills’ Josh Allen and Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, rank heading into Week 14 of the 2023 NFL season?
Here’s how the .
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — When Ryan Poles sorted through the options the Chicago Bears had with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, the general manager came to a conclusion.
Poles said he would have to be “blown away” by Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, the top two quarterbacks taken in the draft, to move on from Bears quarterback Justin Fields ahead of his third season.
While Young has struggled on a 1-10 Panthers team, Stroud may one day be looked at as the one who got away. The Houston Texans rookie has 2,962 passing yards and is on pace to shatter Andrew Luck’s 2012 rookie passing record of 4,374 yards, and finish with 28 touchdown passes, which would be the second most by any rookie in NFL history after Justin Herbert’s 31 in 2020.
Stroud has entered the MVP conversation after his first nine games as a pro. Meanwhile, the Bears still aren’t certain whether Fields is their long-term answer at quarterback after 32 starts since 2021.
As the Bears close in the No. 1 pick for a second straight year (ESPN FPI gives Chicago a 69% chance to draft first overall because they own the Panthers pick), Poles’ logic from the pre-draft process now applies to his current QB. Fields needs to prove he is the Bears quarterback of the future, especially with two highly touted prospects in the 2024 draft — USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
In the past 20 years, eight NFL franchises, including the Bears’ previous regime, have selected a quarterback in the first round only to draft another within the next four years. That’s how Fields made his way to the Bears as the No. 11 pick in 2021, four years after Chicago passed on Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson to draft Mitch Trubisky at No. 2.
In five months, the Bears may choose to go that route again if what they see from Fields, along with their evaluation of the draft’s top quarterbacks, lead the organization to start over. Here are three reasons the Bears could move on from Fields and why they could stick with him if they get the top pick.
