Following a rough rookie, Bears quarterback Justin Fields has a clean slate heading into his second year, where he’s learning a new offense that head coach Matt Eberflus promised will be quarterback friendly.
The expectation is Fields will take a step forward in Year 2, and he certainly appears to have a vote of confidence from Eberflus and new general manager Ryan Poles.
But Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio questioned whether the new regime actually believes in Fields following what’s been an uninspiring offseason where Poles has been tearing the roster down to build for the future.
“It feels like the Bears are deliberately taking a step back,” Florio said on 670 the Score’s Dan Bernstein Show. “And the problem is usually teams do that when they don’t have a QB they believe in…
“Maybe that’s the hidden message here — that the new regime doesn’t believe in Justin Fields. Because if they did, would they be tearing everything else down or would they be trying to build everything else up?”
As you can imagine, that take didn’t go over well with Bears fans. It was certainly a unique conclusion about Chicago’s underwhelming offseason, where Poles hasn’t made any significant splashes. That’s due in large part to cleaning up the mess left behind by former GM Ryan Pace.
When looking at this current roster (with about five months until the start of the regular season), it’s hard not to wonder if the organization is doing enough to help Fields in Year 2. It’s concerning, yes. But it doesn’t necessarily indicate the Bears don’t believe in Fields.
Fans are absolutely dragging Florio for his ridiculous Fields take — and also counting the days until September so offseason takes like these can be done.
If Poles didnt believe in Justin in any capacity then he would have taken the Minnesota job (unless ownership was meddling with guns tear down plan) they are tearing down the build up around him if they sabotaged we would know Justin Chicago would have and Chicago would cook https://t.co/8KPcdde6rU
— Edward (@OmegaJolteon) April 13, 2022
or having an old roster with little draft capital/cap space is bad – and Poles is doing his best to reverse Pace’s “rob Peter/pay Paul” approach – by putting the finances on ice, getting younger, & focusing on finding out who on this roster fits into the actual contention window? https://t.co/oP7eLZIPCt
— ZAN (@ZANmadden) April 13, 2022
It isn’t that the Bears don’t believe in Fields. They wouldn’t have taken the jobs if they didn’t.
Free agency didn’t go how they planned or wanted. Poles said it himself. https://t.co/YQ8RuESxxX
— Mr. Conrad (@DarrylConrad) April 13, 2022
Ahhh yes. Let’s take a step back, let Fields flop, decimate his trade value, then move on from him next year. Genius move. There is no shortage of bad takes on this app. https://t.co/hLeAtg1vB4
— Patrick Sheldon (@P_Shels) April 13, 2022
The Bears had millions of holes to fix on an old roster with few assets to fix those holes. I’m no NFL insider but im pretty sure Poles is not trying to tank and screw Justin Fields 😒 https://t.co/yD4L8BcIqm
— Alex Patt (@chifanpatt2) April 13, 2022
If the Bears wanted a GM who would go “all-in” every year they would’ve kept Pace. Says nothing about what Poles thinks about Fields https://t.co/DKmCadb6P0
— Brock (@BrockWorkman) April 13, 2022
I just don’t get this take lol we upgraded our slot and center sure could’ve added more to the line but poles tried with bates I don’t get these “signs” people are talking about https://t.co/azOdl6u2eS
— YEEZUS (@YEEZUS__24) April 13, 2022
The Bears didn’t overpay for Marques Valdez Scantling so they must hate Justin fields. That makes sense https://t.co/94Y7s8iLM7
— Chicago Football Connection (@CFCBears) April 13, 2022
Some of the people who get paid to talk about football really have 0 idea wtf they are talking about lol bozos everywhere https://t.co/3gXpJs8Tbk
— James Mondragón (@JimmyStickz_) April 14, 2022
Florio sounds like a random account on Bears Facebook. He has no idea about the Bears roster or even the sport of football itself. https://t.co/OvaZuAStBn
— illwill (Light Skin but I’m still a Dark….) (@79illwill) April 13, 2022
The same QB this new regime trotted out after their introductory presser. Yep. That one. Brilliant thinking here by Florio. 🤦🏻♂️ https://t.co/Le5SB2fpC4
— Shayne L. Marsaw (@ShayneMarsaw) April 13, 2022
Double QTing but it must be asked:
If the Bears didn’t believe in Fields, why did they have him speak at Flus/Poles introductory press conference, the only other one to do so being the owner?
However you feel about optics, you don’t do that unless you believe in him. https://t.co/dstXTyxWMf
— car guy (@whispererofbeer) April 13, 2022
This is so stupid lol. If they don’t believe in him why try and trade him AFTER what Florio believes could be a bad year for Fields when his value would be lower. Trade him now if that’s the case lol. https://t.co/o66ZcB32w0
— Derrick Brill (@Brills16) April 14, 2022
I feel like the Bears are deliberately building for their future.
A future that includes Justin Fields as the franchise QB. https://t.co/GieiiYiPdb
— Adam Rank (@adamrank) April 13, 2022
According to Florio, Jim Harbaugh is the Vikings head coach right now.
Not exactly the most trust worthy news source https://t.co/UQYtPjnBaO
— DaWindyCity Productions (@dwcprodz) April 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/JeremyLayt0n/status/1514370946337054720?s=20&t=xLJjjvjQMrfviJZydXA10Q
1
1