The Chicago Bears officially moved on from Justin Fields over the weekend, trading the 2021 first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers and ending a rocky three-year tenure in the Windy City.
The big question of the weekend was simple: Is Fields at fault or did the Bears fail him?
The answer, according to Good Morning Football‘s Kyle Brandt, lies somewhere in the middle.
Thoughts on Justin Fields…. pic.twitter.com/MvkJ2067Cp
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) March 18, 2024
Brandt, a Chicago-area native and Bears fan, had a lot to say about the trade on Monday morning.
“I think [Fields’ time in Chicago] was complicated and it was occasionally exhilarating and extremely disappointing. I hate that when it comes to Justin Fields and the Bears you have to pick one way. You have to say either Fields was terrible or the Bears blew it. It’s completely binary, overly reductive, and simplistic. It’s not how real people think, it’s not how real people talk. I think it’s reflective of politics where you have to go one way. It’s nonsense.”
There’s plenty of blame to go around for both sides, Brandt went on to explain. “What the Bears did to and for Justin Fields as a rookie was ridiculous and probably even dangerous. Go back and watch him against the Browns, I can’t believe he even survived the game, it was terrible.”
Fields was sacked nine times in his first career start, a 26-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 3 of the 2021 season.
His second season wasn’t much better, as Brandt notes. “His second season he was throwing to [Byron] Pringle and [Dante] Pettis. It was bad. But on the other side, there were so many plays to be made. He went 10-28. I love Fields. There were so many times, especially in year two, that he had the ball at the end of the game and blew it. Justin Fields, I like him. He blew it. The Bears, I like them. They blew it.”
Brandt went on to note how the 2023 regular-season finale against the Green Bay Packers perfectly encapsulated both the Bears and Fields’ woes. “The grand finale of all of it was the last game of this year, the last game Fields would ever play as a Bear. They go to Lambeau Field with a chance to knock the Packers out of the playoffs and they scored nine points. So there’s fault on both sides, and that’s OK! Fields blew it, the Bears blew it, and if you’re saying it’s only one person’s fault, you blew it.”
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