Opinion Piece
Trevor Moore
October 26th, 2023
Just off the shores of Lake Michigan, the NFL might be in store for a late bloomer with an emerging defense, a fairytale backup quarterback, and another win for the Monsters of the Midway.
The Chicago Bears are nearing a week eight matchup against a fellow underperforming foe in Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, who find themselves drowning in unprecedented losses while fielding a roster some have considered Super Bowl-worthy. Los Angeles is limping into their week eight primetime contest with absolutely zero momentum to play host to the Bears, who marched out of Soldier Field victorious from the Battle of the Backups and the question all Bears fans are wondering is, what should we expect at the QB position in the coming weeks?
Matt Eberflus made it clear following the Bears’ week seven win, "Justin Fields is our starting quarterback and Tyson (Bagent) is the backup, he came in and did a nice job." Let’s not take anything away from Tyson and what he was able to do in his first game in the NFL as a starter. The former Division Two star showed confidence and poise against Max Crosby and the Las Vegas defense. Bagent completed 21 passes on 29 attempts for 162 yards and a Touchdown in Chicago’s dominating 30-12 win over the Raiders. A win is a win, especially in the NFL, but with that, I don’t believe we’ve seen any definitive evidence that Justin Fields doesn’t deserve the starting job in Chicago.
While the win total for Fields has not been close to what we as fans were hoping for, there hasn’t been any scenario outside of a handful of games where Fields has been put in a position to thrive under Luke Getsy’s system.
Last Season, Fields showed signs of genius with his dynamic running ability and accuracy while passing the ball on the run and outside of the pocket. The evidence that Fields can and should be successful in the NFL was evident last season in weeks 7-11. Fields led a Bears’ offense that averaged 29.6 points per game. While he wasn’t airing the ball out as fans would prefer, it was his natural ability to move outside and play the style of football that he was comfortable playing at this level of competition. Based on what we saw in that five-game stretch in 2022 it should be a no brainer for the coaching staff to develop an offense based around their first round QB’s skill set.
Through weeks 1-3 of the 2023 season, we didn’t see Getsy utilizing Fields’ natural abilities, and it almost seemed as if there was no hope that he would ever conform to the style of football that this offense is built for. We saw a lot less movement out of our QB, and he looked extremely uncomfortable taking snaps in a scheme that forced him to stay in the pocket, resulting in what we’ve all become accustomed to… losing football games.
That is until weeks 4 and 5 when Getsy looked ready to bend and let Justin loose. In that two-game span, we saw Fields take an enormous leap as a passer, throwing for a combined 8 touchdowns, 1 Interception, and 617 yards. And, while in their last game against the Minnesota Vikings, Fields didn't have an explosive start through the air he did show leadership and was driving the ball down the field before things took a dramatic turn. Fields was picked off on a deflected pass, resulting in a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, forcing him to exit the game. In comes Bagent, and while showing early signs of poise, he still turned the ball over twice, which proved costly enough to lose yet another game for the Chicago Bears.
So here we are in week 8. Fields is still out and not expected to make his return just yet. Meanwhile, Tyson Bagent is looking to keep his undefeated record as a starting quarterback.
Will Bagent retain the starting job in Chicago when Fields is healthy?
Not at the moment. The success of these two Quarterbacks is all determined by the competency of the coaching staff and especially the play caller on any given gameday. Getsy has failed to develop Fields to the point that he should be developed at this stage of his career while simultaneously sabotaging him with an offensive system that does not highlight Fields’ abilities as an athlete. While the success of Bagent in his first start piqued my interest in the rookie’s abilities as a potential starter there still isn’t enough situational evidence of success from the rookie to throw out the guy Chicago is building their offense around.
The Chicago Bears take on the Los Angeles Chargers in Sofi Stadium this Sunday night in the primetime slot. With Bagent set to make his second career start, the key to success comes down to coaching. If the defense can continue to play at the level they have been over the last few games and continue to generate turnovers while the offensive line controls the battle in the trenches; then it all comes down to the play-caller to put his offense in a position to shine.
This week’s matchup should be an eye-opener to Chicago’s upper management and a key factor in where Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren wish to proceed with this organization.
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