The Chicago Bears got a lot of flak when they made the decision to trade Justin Fields earlier this off-season. Many experts felt they were abandoning the young quarterback right when he was showing signs of real progress. GM Ryan Poles understood the risks, but he felt Fields hadn’t shown enough progress to justify passing on a QB at #1 overall for the second straight year. As a result, the Bears granted his request to be traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. There, he would have a chance to compete for the starting job and play for a more stable organization.
That doesn’t seem to have improved the wider NFL’s view of him. Every year, Mike Sando of The Athletic polls 50 coaches and executives around the league to create a quarterback ranking. They are separated into five tiers, with #1 being the elite of the elite and #5 being the worst. Of the 30 quarterbacks who cracked the list, Fields found himself a distant 24th, behind Daniel Jones in Tier 4. While league experts acknowledge his freakish running ability, they know he is fatally flawed as a drop-back passer.
24. Justin Fields
Fields is not consistent enough as a passer for voters to want him as their quarterback, but he’s dangerous enough as a runner for voters to fear facing him.
“Fields is hard to go against,” a defensive coordinator said. “He can win you games if you play complementary football and you’ve got the run game going, you’ve got play-actions, keepers. I kind of want to give him a 3, but he ain’t going to win you games dropping back.”
Ironically, for all the terrible quarterback moves they’ve made over the years, they have never regretted letting one go after employing him. There has never been a case where a QB performed like a star after leaving Chicago. Maybe Fields will have some success in Pittsburgh, but people around the NFL don’t seem to think that will happen. He will continue to be a threat on the ground. Just don’t expect the Steelers to magically solve the problem the Bears encountered over the past three years.
Justin Fields is not a natural pocket quarterback. It is the unfortunate reality most quarterbacks run into upon reaching this level. Pittsburgh may craft a system that takes advantage of his physical gifts, but sooner or later they will have to ask him to go win a game throwing the football. Time after time, he’s shown he can’t. The Steelers may sneak into the playoffs again. The problem is Fields won’t be outdueling Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.
