The Chicago Bears failed Justin Fields.
Even if he wasn’t on the gridiron as often as they wanted him to and his numbers weren’t exactly great, the organization set him up for failure.
They were reluctant to let him be the player he had always been, forcing him to stay in the pocket.
He also played on a predictable and outdated offense, behind a subpar offensive line, and with little-to-no help in the passing game, and there’s only so much any player can do under those circumstances.
Nonetheless, Fields was still the odd man out, and with the Bears in possession of the No. 1 pick, his trade value plummeted across the league.
Now that Fields is a Pittsburgh Steeler, Bears GM Ryan Poles claimed that letting him go was one of the hardest things he ever had to do (via Around the NFL):
“Justin, probably one of the harder things I’ve had to do,” Poles said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I always kind of touch on the empathy part, like having that conversation with my own son was hard. His jersey’s up in his room. So, it kind of puts that into perspective of how difficult those moves are.”
Bears GM Ryan Poles: Trading Justin Fields “probably one of the harder things I’ve had to do”https://t.co/91tBcvy0wm pic.twitter.com/3w4vtqDYMs
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 25, 2024
Fields’ contract situation made him a negative asset at this point.
Essentially, whoever traded for him would only have one year to assess whether he could be their franchise quarterback before signing him to a big contract extension.
But that doesn’t mean that he cannot play or that other teams wouldn’t have been interested in his services if he still had another year left in his deal or was a free agent.
Still, as hard as this may have been for Poles, it was the right call.
Caleb Williams could be a generational talent, and they were obviously never too sold on the Ohio State product.
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