In Chicago, the long-standing debate over who should lead the Bears as their starting quarterback next season has finally been settled. The team made a significant move by trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. This decision was reported by Ian Rapoport from the NFL Network. The Bears will receive a 6th-round pick in 2025 from the Steelers, which could potentially become a 4th-round pick depending on Fields’ playing time.
This trade marks the end of a brief but memorable chapter in the history of the Bears. Fields, a former Ohio State Buckeye, won over fans with his calm demeanor and readiness to address the media’s tough questions, regardless of his on-field performance during his three years as the Bears’ primary quarterback.
Over the last two seasons, Fields showed improvement in his passing game. His completion percentage slightly increased from 60.4% to 61.4%, and his total passing yards went up from 2,242 to 2,562. Additionally, he reduced his interceptions from 11 to 9 despite attempting 52 more passes (370 up from 318).
Despite a decrease in his rushing stats from 2022 to 2023, Fields ended the 2023 regular season on a high note. He led all quarterbacks in rushing yards in the last seven weeks of the season with 420 and ranked second in yards per carry at 5.5.
Ultimately, Ryan Poles, the general manager, and Matt Eberflus, the head coach, felt it was time for the team to take a new direction at the quarterback position.
Pro Football Focus ranked Fields 20th out of 28 quarterbacks in passing grade last year. He was also 26th in completion percentage, only outperforming Zach Wilson and Bryce Young. Fields’ tendency to hold onto the ball for too long and his turnovers in critical late-game moments were significant issues during his time in Chicago.
Among quarterbacks with at least 50% of 712 dropbacks in 2023, Fields had the slowest average time to throw (TTT) at 3.39 seconds. This was notably slower than the next quarterback, Lamar Jackson, who had a TTT of 3.17 seconds. This concern was not new, as Fields had shown a similar tendency in college, where he ranked 110th out of 114 quarterbacks tracked by PFF for average TTT.
Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times highlighted Fields’ struggles, especially when throwing the ball in the final four minutes of games where the Bears were trailing during the 2023 NFL regular season. Before their last regular-season game against the Green Bay Packers, which they lost 17-9, Fields had the worst passer rating in such situations at 22.1. The previous year, his performance in similar conditions was also below par, with a passer rating of 37.1, ranking 24th out of 25 quarterbacks who made at least 20 throws under those circumstances.