Only in Chicago do we blame everyone else EXCEPT the QB. Turns out, it may be just that the QB sucks, huh?
I think most of us (if not all of us here) don't blame everything on a single factor. There can be multiple contributing factors to success or failure. And personally I don't think the book is necessarily closed on Fields or Young. Not yet. But we'll see.
I will grant you that the QB position is different from any other in that success/failure is very binary. For a rookie contract QB with the team that drafted him it is either "good enough to pay huge money" or NOT.
There's no "average starter" or "good depth player" at QB.
With Fields specifically, there's no doubt the team screwed up his time here. I said so at the very moment they kept Pace/Nagy which set the whole clown show in motion. I won't go thru all the details again but they clearly failed to align the incentives and timelines of the GM, HC, and QB. They made similar mistakes with Trubisky and Cutler too.
Having said all that, Fields did have a decent cast to work with in 2023 and he fell well short of what he needed to do to remain a starter. The rest of the league confirmed the reality that some Bears fans had trouble accepting -- 2500 yards passing isn't worth much in trade and no one was gonna hand him a starting job. Those are BACKUP type of numbers.
I think most of us (if not all of us here) don't blame everything on a single factor. There can be multiple contributing factors to success or failure. And personally I don't think the book is necessarily closed on Fields or Young. Not yet. But we'll see.
Maybe not Young, but the book is getting pretty close to being completed on Fields. Its starting to sound a little like the Mitch talk after he was let go. There is almost no record of a young QB starting as many games as Fields did changing teams and turning into a viable year-in year-out starter. Mayfield maybe the first one in recent league history.
I really hoped Fields was the guy, the same way I hoped Mitch was the guy, the same way I hoped Grossman was the guy. But I'm a firm believer that you know what you have in a QB after a few seasons. Either they can play at the NFL level or they can't, no excuses. The ones that can't function as starters sometimes can have a long career as a backup (Chase Daniel for example.)
+1
I'm not disagreeing with any of that. But I admit to myself that I don't know... anything can happen. I think one of the things I've learned over the years of following football is that every person is unique to some extent. For that matter, every team is too. I have no clue as to what will happen with Fields. But I'm not closing the book on him being a good starting QB just yet. Hey, he could end up a total bust and out of football... or a backup guy. Or maybe he ends up being good. I'm just an old dude watching the parade go by each day. I don't control any of this. I just watch stuff happen.
LOL, I do get a kick out of people who see the world in absolute and stark black-and-white, thinking they know something/everything. They don't.
I think most of us (if not all of us here) don't blame everything on a single factor. There can be multiple contributing factors to success or failure. And personally I don't think the book is necessarily closed on Fields or Young. Not yet. But we'll see.
I will grant you that the QB position is different from any other in that success/failure is very binary. For a rookie contract QB with the team that drafted him it is either "good enough to pay huge money" or NOT.
There's no "average starter" or "good depth player" at QB.
With Fields specifically, there's no doubt the team screwed up his time here. I said so at the very moment they kept Pace/Nagy which set the whole clown show in motion. I won't go thru all the details again but they clearly failed to align the incentives and timelines of the GM, HC, and QB. They made similar mistakes with Trubisky and Cutler too.
Having said all that, Fields did have a decent cast to work with in 2023 and he fell well short of what he needed to do to remain a starter. The rest of the league confirmed the reality that some Bears fans had trouble accepting -- 2500 yards passing isn't worth much in trade and no one was gonna hand him a starting job. Those are BACKUP type of numbers.
Yeah, MP, I'm not disagreeing with all of that. Just saying the book isn't completely closed on Fields until it is completely closed. Regarding his time with the Bears I've moved on from that. LOL, I can't do anything about it so why get worked up over what happened in the past? I'm trying to do better letting things go in life that I can't control. But the future for him could surprise us. Or not. LOL, I wish him the best... but won't worry about it.
Maybe not Young, but the book is getting pretty close to being completed on Fields. Its starting to sound a little like the Mitch talk after he was let go. There is almost no record of a young QB starting as many games as Fields did changing teams and turning into a viable year-in year-out starter. Mayfield maybe the first one in recent league history.
I really hoped Fields was the guy, the same way I hoped Mitch was the guy, the same way I hoped Grossman was the guy. But I'm a firm believer that you know what you have in a QB after a few seasons. Either they can play at the NFL level or they can't, no excuses. The ones that can't function as starters sometimes can have a long career as a backup (Chase Daniel for example.)
+1
I'm not disagreeing with any of that. But I admit to myself that I don't know... anything can happen. I think one of the things I've learned over the years of following football is that every person is unique to some extent. For that matter, every team is too. I have no clue as to what will happen with Fields. But I'm not closing the book on him being a good starting QB just yet. Hey, he could end up a total bust and out of football... or a backup guy. Or maybe he ends up being good. I'm just an old dude watching the parade go by each day. I don't control any of this. I just watch stuff happen.
LOL, I do get a kick out of people who see the world in absolute and stark black-and-white, thinking they know something/everything. They don't.
I hope he does for his sake. Once a player leaves the Bears I usually don't care. I root for the uniform. Occasionally I'll track a player who's supporters/detractors were/are unusually obnoxious about it. Olsen was one guy I followed because by and large the fan base was that he was a wasted pick and a useless TE. I tracked Mitch in Pitt because people were sure, 100% dead sure, that all he needed was a chance with a real team and he'd explode.
Like I've said before, I don't know anything, but history is not on Fields side here.
I will grant you that the QB position is different from any other in that success/failure is very binary. For a rookie contract QB with the team that drafted him it is either "good enough to pay huge money" or NOT.
There's no "average starter" or "good depth player" at QB.
With Fields specifically, there's no doubt the team screwed up his time here. I said so at the very moment they kept Pace/Nagy which set the whole clown show in motion. I won't go thru all the details again but they clearly failed to align the incentives and timelines of the GM, HC, and QB. They made similar mistakes with Trubisky and Cutler too.
Having said all that, Fields did have a decent cast to work with in 2023 and he fell well short of what he needed to do to remain a starter. The rest of the league confirmed the reality that some Bears fans had trouble accepting -- 2500 yards passing isn't worth much in trade and no one was gonna hand him a starting job. Those are BACKUP type of numbers.
Yeah, MP, I'm not disagreeing with all of that. Just saying the book isn't completely closed on Fields until it is completely closed. Regarding his time with the Bears I've moved on from that. LOL, I can't do anything about it so why get worked up over what happened in the past? I'm trying to do better letting things go in life that I can't control. But the future for him could surprise us. Or not. LOL, I wish him the best... but won't worry about it.
There have been a few QBs who had a "resurgence" after not doing that well early on (Tannehill, Goff, etc). Book isn't closed on Fields and he still has a chance.
But he's got a lotta ground to make up to get there. He's gotta get way, way better at processing, delivery speed, attacking the middle of the field, short-mid level accuracy, keeping his eyes downfield, etc. He's got a long, long way to go.
The only things he does well are RUN and throw a good deep ball when he's given 5+ seconds of time.
I wish him well too but I wouldn't be betting much money on him becoming a long-term starter anymore.