THE SOONER THE BEARS DRAFT CALEB WILLIAMS, A ``TIRED" FIELDS GOES AWAY
NFL insiders know Williams could be a generational quarterback, something the gods always have ordered in Chicago, allowing Fields to move on after three years of baffling production and a bad podcast
In three seasons with the Chicago Bears, though most of us stopped counting, Justin Fields has earned $15.6 million. He has been a professional since he was 22, old enough to feel towering rage. He blamed his coaches for “robotic” performances and said he wasn’t “playing like myself” but remained in an offense where he lost 28 of 38 games, throwing 30 interceptions alongside 40 touchdowns and occasionally stirring minds with rushing barrages.
Somewhere in the vestiges of that city, his output somehow would be enough to remain a full-time starter. Allow me to straighten out the gloop: Chicago knows less about quarterbacks than music, where it thinks Styx and Survivor should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The poor people haven’t been introduced to a franchise player at the position, not since the leather-helmet days, and they were dead-ended when Halas Hall missed badly on Patrick Mahomes and, just a year ago, C.J. Stroud.
Now, we see Fields also lacks maturity. Wednesday, while the Bears were busy determining that Caleb Williams will be their No. 1 draft pick in April, he appeared on a podcast and explained why he unfollowed them on Instagram. Anyone who still thinks Fields can be the adult in the room, with a team that uses losers when it needs virtuosos, is sadly mistaken. He needed to count his money and be quiet. He needed to wait for a call from Ryan Poles, general manager of the Bears, and see where he’ll be sent in a trade — to a team that likely will use him as the starter, such as the Atlanta Falcons, in the state where he grew up.
Instead, he broke his offseason silence on “The St. Brown Brothers” production that was hosted by his Bears teammate, Equanimeous St. Brown, and his brother, Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Four seasons into his career, much more was expected from Fields and his psyche, which has undergone considerable scrutiny for his first-round millions. This is what it means to be a pro. He failed.
“Why do people take social media so serious?" Fields said. “I still mess with the Bears, this and that. I'm just trying to take a little break. I unfollowed the Bears and the NFL. I'm not just trying to have football on my timeline. It's something that I don't want to see on my timeline.”
So why not just ignore the timeline, right? “I’m about to go on vacation. I don't want to see no football,” he said. “And guess what? It’s either keep Fields, we want Fields (or) it's draft Caleb. I'm tired of hearing the talk. I just want it to be over.”
Those with intense knowledge realize what the Bears are doing. They are waiting for a franchise, such as the Falcons or Pittsburgh Steelers, to make the best possible deal for Fields. Then they’ll pick Williams, who is thought to be a generational player who finally might bring all-around excellence at quarterback. I’m stunned Bears fans wouldn’t cling onto his superpower moments at USC and run with them. Are they that conditioned to losing almost 40 years since the only Super Bowl victory in that town? With a new offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, why believe in the past? Williams is the most adept quarterbacking skillmaker, by far, ever to walk into the facility.
Yet Fields hears enough of the “Keep Justin” stuff that he wants the call from Poles to say one thing: You’re staying. That’s not happening, kid. “Yeah, of course. Of course I want to stay,” Fields said. “I can't see myself playing in another place. But if it was up to me, I would want to stay in Chicago. I love the city. The city's lit. The fans there are great, and the people. It's a business. I ain't got no control over it. Whatever happens, happens. I think the biggest thing with all this going on right now, I just want it to be over. Like, just let me know if I'm getting traded, let me know if I'm staying, this and that.”
Soon enough, he will know. When asked by the St. Browns if he liked Atlanta, his response was iffy. Why? “Atlanta would be tough. The only con of going back home is just people hit my phone (up) crazy wanting tickets to the game,” he said.
What? You don’t like warmer weather, playing in Mercedes-Benz Stadium? He doesn’t like new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, who said he might look around for a quarterback who can “move around” — which would be Fields? He doesn’t like weapons such as Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson? “I think they've got a lot of playmakers on the team: of course, Bijan; they've got my boy Kyle; and then, of course, Drake, too. They probably need one more receiver, but they've definitely got some guys over there, and their defense was good this year, too.”
He does follow London on social media. That’s all we need to know about Fields. Elsewhere, he’ll have good moments and bad moments, as he did in Chicago. But the Bears finally have been given light at their darkest place. Surely, team president and CEO Kevin Warren knew it when he told WGN’s Jarrett Payton, son of the great Walter Payton: “Justin has a rare combination of intelligence, of size, of strength and speed. You forget how big of a man he is until you’re up on him. He’s not a small man. I just think every year, he’s going to continually get better.
“So I’m glad he’s on the Chicago Bears.”
For just another few days, thankfully.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.