After giving it more thought, Bears quarterback Justin Fields’ game against the Browns is full of problems.
After the Chicago Bears lost to the Cleveland Browns 20–17, quarterback Justin Fields got support from his teammates. The loss dropped the Bears to 5–9 on the season, giving them a 3% chance of reaching the playoffs.
For 166 yards and one score, Fields completed 19 out of 40 passes. He also threw two interceptions, both on Hail Mary plays at the end of each half.
That was the last play of the game. Fields threw a long ball into the end zone, but receiver Darnell Mooney couldn’t catch it, and Chicago lost.
As Mooney, a fourth-year wide receiver, talked about the Bears’ last play after the game, he was also asked if he thought Fields would stay as Chicago’s quarterback after the 2023 season.
“Justin is the next great quarterback,” Mooney said. “He’s the quarterback for this team.” He’s been having fun.
That doesn’t seem to be the subject of any more questions. We hold the first-round pick right now because Carolina picked first, but Justin’s a dog.
He’ll be balling somewhere else if he’s not here. Justin is a dog, but I’m not the one who makes this choice. No matter where he is—if not here, then somewhere else—he’s still going to play.
The Carolina Panthers have the worst record in the league (2-12), which gives Chicago the first overall pick.
In March of last year, the Bears gave the Panthers the first pick within the 2023 draft in return for four picks in the draft and receivers DJ Moore.
Moore was upset that he had recently been asked the same thing about Fields’ future within Chicago, since the Bears might use their large draft pick to pick a new quarterback.
“I’m still like, bruh, when are y’all seeing this?” Moore told them. “What keeps him from being the Bears’ quarterback right now?”
I know you have a lot of people coming out. What, there are two of them? They’re not better than Justin, in my opinion.
Since coming back from having his thumb dislocated in Week 11, Fields has completed 62% of his passes, thrown for 775 yards, scored three scores, and picked off two others.
In the past few weeks, reporters have asked the QB many times about the rumors about his future.
“A lot of people have questions, but that’s not my problem,” Fields said after Sunday’s game. “I just come to work, do my job as well as I can, and that’s it.”
Moore spoke out even more in support of Fields on his weekly show on 670 AM The Score in Chicago, one day after the loss at Cleveland. After all is said and done, I stand by what I said last weekend.
“Just being here to the whole season as well as part of this offseason, I’ve seen him grow, so I can see what he wants to be and where that he’s headed towards,” said Moore.
“I don’t understand how they could say he’s not the quarterback of the Chicago Bears right now.”
He has been doing everything that was asked of him, which has kept us competitive in games and other similar situations.
I would say that he has grown a HUGE amount. I’ve heard outside noise from the press in the changing room for two weeks now, and they have to do it to do it.
Coach Mike Tomlin didn’t say for sure that Rudolph would start against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday in a very important divisional game, but he did say that Rudolph “is the guy who has the ball.”
At his weekly news conference, Tomlin said, “As we sit here today, our plan is to give Mason Rudolph a chance to start.” He has a lot of experience. Even though he’s not the starter, he’s a good backup.
He has been with our group for a long time. Because of those things, he’s here. He gave us a lot of comfort.
Tollin said of Pickett, “He had a really good rehab today.” “His availability is not out of reach this week, but at the start of the week, our attention and stress will be on Mason Rudolph, as well as we’ll leave the door ajar as well as see how Kenny responds to the job that he did today and the little work that we’re probably going to give him tomorrow.”
A week ago, Tomlin pushed back on the idea of Rudolph having a chance to start, saying that it wasn’t the right time to “open up battle” for the quarterback’s starting job because Rudolph “hadn’t enjoyed a lot of exposure in terms of in-helmet prep.”
Tomlin changed his mind on Monday, though, after Mitch Trubisky threw two picks and the offense only managed 216 yards in a 30–13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Even though Trubisky got a new contract in the offseason, Rudolph took over after he threw an additional interception with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Rudolph played six snaps of waste time and completed two of three passes for three yards.