The Patriots have scored 13 total points in the last 3 weeks vs. the Colts, Giants and Chargers. None of those teams have even an average defense, and all are ranked below 20th in Points Allowed per Game.

New England has no offense whatsoever right now.

10 passing TD, 2 rushing TD, 13 INT,

Unfortunately, no list of fumbles for 4th, but when the game is between 0-7 points, Fields has 16 passing TDs, 4 rushing TDs, 9 INT and 15 fumbles.

Right now, do you want to exercise Fields’ 5th year option and/or sign him to an extension?

because they didn’t think you could build a contender around Jared Goff…

Jared Goff was a former 1-1 pick who has already taken a team to the Super Bowl.

People would have had the Lions draft Malik Willis in the top 5

Who said this?

But don’t draft a QB just because you want to move on from Fields. Draft a QB because you think he’s the “guy.”

if Fields doesn’t show that he’s the future, then draft a QB in 2025.

What if none of the QB prospects in 2025 look like “the guy”?

The Bears actually have two choices to make this offseason:

1. Exercise Fields’ 5th year option, or don’t.
2. Draft a new QB with Carolina’s pick, or don’t.

If the answer to both questions above is “don’t”, then they go into 2024 with a lame-duck Fields with no contract who can leave via FA after 2024. (The Bears could tag him for 2025, but that would cost an obscene amount of money against the 2025 cap.)

The reason this was Justin’s “prove it” year, is that there were no difficult decisions to make last offseason. That’s not the case in this upcoming spring.

It’s because QB’s like Vick were a rarity AND he was viewed as a QB with athleticism the NFL had never seen. The greatest “running QB” the NFL had seen before Vick was Steve Young, and then behind him were guys like Randall Cunningham, John Elway, Fran Tarkenton. But all of them were guys who could hurt you with their legs if there was no one to throw to. Passing was still expected to be option #1 for those guys…but if you let them escape the pocket, look out.

With Vick, he looked like a QB that could combine the rocket arm needed to be a great passer in the NFL, along with enough speed and toughness to make the option runs or designed runs that the most dangerous college offenses used into a viable threat in the League. Suddenly defenses had to be ready for a whole new dimension.

Michael Vick’s rookie year was 2001. NFL defenses have now seen two new generations of running QBs since then. And for all the offensive “innovations” (really just stolen from college and HS) in the running game, RPOs, the Wildcat, whatever Atlanta is trying under Arthur Smith, throwing the ball down the field has proven to be by far the most effective and efficient way to light up the scoreboard.

But back in 2001, no one realized that. A QB like Vick who could hurt you with his arm or his legs was terrifying. There were still coaches who believed the adage “when you throw the ball, three things can happen, and two of them are bad”, so facing a QB who could torch them on the ground for 100 yards a game in addition to whatever gained through the air passing was a nightmare.

Nowadays, NFL teams are perfectly happy to let Fields run for over 100 yards per game. It means he’s not throwing the ball, and thus the Bears are running a suboptimal offense and using their QB in a suboptimal way.

and has a ridiculous superstar-like 178 running yards

Even if this were true (it’s not) if your QBs best attribute is his running, your QB sucks. This isn’t high school or a service academy.

Fans: I just want Justin to show progress

Running a lot against the Lions isn’t progress; we already know he can do that. Throwing to a wide, wide, WIDE open DJ Moore from a clean pocket isn’t progress. We already know he can hit receivers who are “Ohio State” open with no pressure.

You’re super quick to throw out Passer Rating for games. What was Fields’ last night? 87.3. How about his Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt? 4.98. Not good. How about his “combined yards” that Fields fans love to scream about? 276. Even counting his rushing yards, which is something we don’t have to do for other QBs to try to prop them up, he still can’t hit 300 yards.

Bottom line is: the one word that best describes Justin Fields is inconsistent. He can do most of the things a QB1 can do some of the time. He can’t do all the things most of the time.

We’re currently in a rebuild. Relax.

I mean…he’s now 7-26. Do you really want to make the argument about wins?

I honestly question if Fields would have thrown that pass to Moore if there was a defender within 5 yards of DJ on any side.

Why don’t you give me a prediction of how much this bad offense will score against the Vikings and Lions the next two games?

17 and 20, respectively.

And that prediction isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.

If they score 25 per game against those teams would you consider that a good result? Meaning, that’s what a good offense would do?

What if they go 17 and 20? Will that matter to you? Will you say then “boy, the Bears’ offense isn’t very good?”

 Fire Flus, bring in a new coach. Have new coach work with Fields.

Nope. Because any new coach worth their salt is going to say “I want to start fresh with my own QB.”

I can’t imagine making a post this bad.

54 minutes? Oh, hell yeah. This gun b gud.

I love how we’re now pretending “Rushing Yards” is an important stat for QBs now. They’re not.

I’d much rather see Justin Fields throw 35 times a game and run 6 times than 23 and 18 like Sunday.

And I would instantly trade Fields for Lawrence.

Fields has 1,711 total yards on the season; 1,370 passing and 341 rushing. That’s a bit more than 244 yards per game.

There are TWELVE QBs in the league with more than 244 yards JUST PASSING per game.

That list? C.J. Stroud, Tua Tagovailoa, Kirk Cousins, Sam Howell, Jared Goff, Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford. (That’s not even including QBs whose passing + rushing per gam is higher than Fields’.)

Fields is at 195.7 passing yards per game. That’s 24th in the league. Zach Wilson is 25th, 1.3 yards per game behind Fields. Zach Wilson!!!

Why are the Bears 26th in Passing Yards allowed, 30th in Passing TD allowed, and 24th in Net Passing Yards per Attempt if the secondary is so good?

Why did the Lions go for 148 yards, mostly through the air, and 2 TDs in a total of 3 minutes and 20 seconds of game time in the 4th?

Several people are asking “what if the new coach wants Fields?”

Then that coach, as well as Poles, are saying “we’re tying our careers to Justin Fields, and we will either win the Super Bowl, or get very close, in 2025.”

For 2023, Fields’ cap hit is about $5M, which represents just over 2% of the Bears’ cap. Next season, it will be $6M, which will also be around 2-2.5%. That’s 30th in the league for QBs, according to Sportrac.

Then the price elevator starts.

This offseason, if the Bears keep Fields, they must exercise his 5th year option, and that money is guaranteed to Fields and counts against the cap. I was trying to see how much it would be but no website has the specifics. I’m guessing the answer is “more than 6M”.

But that’s not even it. By the time we get to the 2024-25 offseason, Fields is going to need an extension. And that’s going to be pricey, and eat a lot of cap room, and suddenly Roster Jenga begins in earnest, and your newly-rebuilt team better be winning a lot and have very few holes left, because there’s going to be a lot less money to fill them.

Finally, if I’m hiring a new coach, and he wants to keep our QB who is going into his 4th season…then that coach has a very fucking short leash. And, rightfully, so do I as a GM. Because look at the trick bag the Giants are in now with Daniel Jones.

Picking the wrong QB in the draft is bad. Giving a QB who is no better than mid The Bag is a horrific disaster.

A QB running 18 times a game is unsustainable. That’s a starting running back’s load. If Fields is such a great passer, then let’s see him throw it 35 times a game.

The best ability is availability, and you can’t be “the most exciting QB in the league” standing on the sidelines.

“Caleb Williams and Drake Maye cannot win college games. Therefore, we should keep Justin Fields, who has proven in his three seasons that he cannot win NFL games.”