Post by davidl on May 5, 2023 5:57:34 GMT -6
Poles is going to have to pay him either way. There is plenty in the WR room right now to guage whether Fields is worth a contract extension...which is still 2 to 3 years away from having to happen regardless. The Bears are 1 of only 4 teams to have 3 receivers with 850 yards receiving in a season in their careers. ONE OF ONLY FOUR!!!! I don't understand why people can't see how much this unit has improved from last season.
I think most folks DO understand how much better the offense is this year. But some fans don't.
Since the season ended, the OL, WR, TE, RBs... all received upgrades, and on top of that we have some players entering their 2nd year who should be significantly better (Brax at LT is just one example). Both offense and defense are so much better talent wise than when the team went into the 2022 season. And Poles still could add a significant piece or two before the dust all settles.
I want Fields to have the talent he needs to show what he has at QB for us. While I hope (and expect) more talent to be added to the O in 2024, hey, if Fields can't perform well with THIS level of talent in 2023, then our problem is Fields. No NFL quarterback gets "perfect" talent. Yes, other QBs will have significantly better talent on offense than the Bears. This is what you get when you nuke an entire roster in a major rebuilding year. But Fields has "decent" talent to show that he is a true franchise QB for the future here.
I don’t look at it that way. I will compare him to the guys he is going to have to beat to win a Super Bowl (Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Lawrence, Hurts). Given comparable support, can he compete with these guys, or is he second-tier with Cousins, Prescott, Tua, etc.? This is not to say it is impossible to win with a second-tier QB, if you have the better defense, but I would rather go into the game with a QB as good, or better, than the opposition.