It has been the one constant since I became a Chicago Bears fan who began to immerse myself in the team. A consistency that no other team in the league can tout. The Quarterback Controversy.
A tale as old as time.......
...and I have to admit that I am fucking over it, Bears fam.
I have been behind Justin Fields since his first game where he was sacked for what SEEMED like a record 9 times against the Cleveland Browns in a terrible performance where he ended the day 6 of 20 for 68 yards. He's QB1 so of course I will support him. Through all the ups and downs, I have never NOT supported a Chicago Bears QB, even with all the calls for the backup to replace the starter. Never have I called for a backup to replace a starter, never. I support the QB behind center and more times than not, the QB wasn't the problem. I never said they were elite, or even great, but we've had plenty of average QB's who were as good if not better than Jim McMahon. Quarterbacks who were sufficient to manage an offense and make just enough plays to keep the chains moving with a solid run game and good to great defense.
The clamoring for the backup quarterback has been a staple of nearly every single Bears season I can remember with the possible exception of the 1985 season, I truly don't recall anyone wanting Steve Fuller to start over McMahon, but I was very young so I could be mistaken. And I'll admit, after seeing my role model sitting on the bench during the post season game against the Washington Redskins in 1987, the final game of Walter Payton's career, I stopped watching football for several years, and even then I wasn't as hype focused on my Chicago Bears as I am today so my earliest memory of the QB controversy really starts somewhere around the 1999 season, but that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of ridiculous conversations about putting in the backup long before then.
Let's go back to where I believe this fantasy world began.
On November 21, 1982, after the strike had ended and the NFL resumed their season, rookie first round draft pick Jim McMahon was given his first opportunity to start at quarterback for the Chicago Bears against the visiting Detroit Lions at Soldier Field. He was 16/27 for 233 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and was sacked 3 times in a 20-17 win over Detroit.
As a side note, the Bears defense had 2 interceptions and 7 sacks, holding Detroit QB Eric Hipple to just 15 of 32 for 119 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, clearly the defense had a stellar day.
Just two games prior, to start the season on September 12, 1982 at Detroit, Bob Avellini and Vince Evans combined to go 12 of 26 for just 140 yards and 5 sacks. An atrocious outing by the offense to start the season with Walter Payton only getting 14 carries for 26 yards on the ground and 2 catches for 23 yards. Emery Moorehead was the favorite target with 4 catches for 43 yards. Rough day for Chicago, but the team had just begun to build a competitive roster.
The following week Bob Avellini and Vince Evans combine to go 5 of 13 for a whopping 49 yards, 2 interceptions and a sack before being replaced by the rookie who ended the day 12 of 22 for 131 yards, 1 interception and 4 sacks.
Jim McMahon went on to win just 2 of the final 6 games of the season and the Chicago Bears ended the season with a 3-6-0 record. The future was here, and it was obvious.
The future isn't obvious to some and hasn't been in many, many years. The team replaces bad quarterback with another bad quarterback, but they tend to show a flash here or flash there, and fans LOVE it. Or do they? Do they just see something different in the next guy?
Fans are more frustrated than ever before, more divided than ever before. Justin Fields was supposed to be the chosen one. He was supposed to bring balance to the for.... Wrong blog. He was supposed to be playing at an MVP level, right Orlovsky? The offense showed improvement week 7 against the Patriots last season, and continued to show improvement for many games during the last half of the season despite having arguably the worst roster in the league.
With all the offensive and defensive improvements added in the off-season, this year should show us vast improvement over last years game play, right?
All the off-season PR hype from damn near every media outlet, this team might have a chance to grab a wildcard spot, right?
Then they opened up against the Packers looking worse than they did last season, in their worst games, and followed up with week two against the Buccaneers looking like nothings changed, damn near the same terrible game plan. We won't even mention week three against a struggling Kansas City Chiefs team which many of us had written off before the season started.
What the actual fuck is happening?
The continuous string of bad games are simply a reminder of where this team sits in a 3-4 year rebuilding project.
Now, I know some of you want to keep saying that they've been rebuilding since 1986, which has to be among the top 5 dumbest things a Bears fan can say, but the reality is that this team is roughly a quarter of the way into the second season of a complete teardown and rebuild. Poles will continue to trade veteran players for draft capital as he continues to build a perennial contender through the draft, just as he said he would. Just as perennial contenders do. They build professional teams through the draft and when the team is ready to make a push the GM fills the VERY few remaining holes with top dollar veterans.
There are several players on this roster that are difference makers, and Justin Fields is one of them. For some fans, its hard to see because they've been programmed to want the next guy, but when you watch the Chicago Bears offenses over the years you'll see that very little has changed. The team still needs a consistent run game and solid defense in order to win games, period. The Chicago Bears have never had a traditionally good passing game in their history despite being the creators of the forward pass.
Justin Fields has the capability to take over a game. We've seen it!
Justin Fields can take over a game...when the team is prepared and the game plan makes sense. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
The addition of DJ Moore has proven to be immensely impactful...when the team is prepared and the game plan makes sense.
So why are so many fans clamoring for Tyson Bagent if Justin Fields is a playmaker who can take over games?
What has Tyson Bagent shown?
Bagent has a quick release, seems to read the field relatively well, though he tries to make plays that he shouldn't such as trying to fit a tight pass into a cover 2 hole along the sidelines on 4th and 3 that ended their chances against the Vikings rather than taking the easy 5-yard completion to DJ Moore to move the chains. Rookie mistake, bad decision, learn from it and move on.
Personally, I believe Tyson Bagent will make a quarterback who can develop into a solid backup, but hasn't shown himself to be a vast improvement over Justin Fields. He has his own set of pro's and con's that are being exhaustively written about all over social media, but lacks the playmaking ability that we've seen from Justin Fields.
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