NFL insider offers prediction on future of Bears, Justin Fields

It appears the Chicago Bears are embracing an "it's not personal, it's business" mantra regarding quarterback Justin Fields at a time when most expect the Bears will grab USC star signal-caller Caleb Williams with this year's first overall draft pick.

"Now, the Bears love Fields as a person, and really like him as a player, so I would say that whatever they do in the next few weeks will be with respect to a guy who gave them a lot, physically and otherwise, over the last three years," NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote for a piece published Monday. "But I think the reality, for Chicago, will be that the talent of Caleb Williams plus the chance to reset the quarterback-on-a-rookie-contract clock will be too much for Chicago to pass on." 

The harsh truth of the matter is that Fields didn't do enough over his first three NFL campaigns to justify the Bears passing on an alleged top-tier talent such as Williams. According to ESPN stats, Fields finished the 2023 regular season ranked 23rd in the league among qualified players with a 46.1 adjusted QBR and 30th with a 61.4 percent completion rate. Across 13 games, he passed for 16 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He was also second among quarterbacks with 657 rushing yards. 

Analysts from outlets such as CBS Sports, ESPN and NFL Media routinely predict the Bears will select Williams with the No. 1 pick of the 2024 draft. While Chicago theoretically could have both Williams and Fields in the same quarterback room throughout next season, Breer mentioned that Bears staffers had talks with other teams about Fields' availability during the Senior Bowl earlier this month. 

"Those conversations did allow the team to start to gauge the 2021 first-rounder’s worth out there on the market," Breer added about Fields. "The Bears are meeting over the next couple weeks to finalize plans at quarterback, with the expectation that they’ll have the plan in place in Indianapolis (at the NFL scouting combine) next week."

Assuming history repeats itself, news about where Fields is headed could break shortly after team executives leave Indianapolis and before the new league year opens on March 13.