The Chicago Bears ended the Justin Fields era in March, trading the former 1st round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional 6th rounder in 2025. It was a sad end to a run that felt headed in the right direction at various points over the past two years. Fields showcased his rare running ability in 2022. Then, last year, he seemed to make tangible progress as a passer down the stretch. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to justify passing on a quarterback at #1 overall for the second straight year.
GM Ryan Poles knew moving on was a delicate situation. Fields was well-liked in the Bears locker room, and many fans loved him as well. It needed to be handled carefully. A good way to do that was to accommodate the quarterback by sending him somewhere he wanted to go. That ended up being Pittsburgh. No controversies surfaced from the transaction, but Fields remained silent after everything went down. That finally changed when Pittsburgh reporters spoke to him. The quarterback singled Poles out for how the situation was handled.
“Shoutout to Poles, we communicated to him through my agent, and I told him where I wanted to be and this was a place I wanted to be, so he honored that and I appreciate him for that and glad he was able to put me in a spot where I wanted to be at.”
Despite recent reports that he is somewhat lackluster as a leader behind the scenes and not the greatest teammate to other quarterbacks, he’s always kept things civil in public. He’s gone out of his way to make sure he never blames anybody but himself when he struggles. It is one of the many reasons Poles and others in the organization liked and respected him. It isn’t certain what the future holds for Fields, but at least the two sides parted on good terms. Lord knows that hasn’t always been the case with this franchise.
Chicago is moving forward with Caleb Williams, who is the unquestioned starter after going #1 overall. Fields will compete with Russell Wilson for the starting job in Pittsburgh. Most believe the latter will hold the job this season, barring an unexpected injury. The uncertainty is whether the Steelers hope to keep Fields beyond 2024, perhaps grooming him to be their long-term starter. Given his history, one can probably assume such an arrangement may not appeal to Fields, but that is no longer the Bears’ problem.
