Justin Fields or Caleb Williams? Who should the Chicago Bears have chosen?
The Chicago Bears have traded Justin Fields to the Steelers which all but means they are drafting Caleb Williams from USC. This is a very polarizing decision because some people believed that Fields hadn’t gotten a fair shake from the Bears while others see Caleb Williams as a future great. Right before trading Fields the Bears made a number of offensive acquisitions including Keenan Allen and D’Andre Swift, which many thought was done in an attempt to give Fields some weapons but that was evidently not the case. But all that aside the real question is: Is Caleb Williams going to be a better Bears QB than Justin Fields?
Caleb Williams has just finished his third year of playing in college which was his second with USC(his first was at Oklahoma). He led his team to a 7-5 record with a 69% completion rate and 3,333 yards. He threw for 30 TDs, ran for 11, and only had 5 picks. Before the 2023 college football season began he was already being touted as the best QB/future #1 draft pick. And I personally never bought the hype. Yes he had nice numbers but he also played in the Pac-12, a conference well-known for having shootouts and unremarkable defenses. To put it simply, these numbers can be a bit inflated and inaccurate, which is overall pretty normal for college football. It is also difficult to properly gauge a quarterback at a big school because they normally have some of the best players so it is much easier for the QB to look good. USC had the top recruiting class according to ESPN which means Caleb had a better and easier chance to succeed than most other QBs. Now it does sound like I’m just knocking Caleb Williams but I’m just trying to point out the potential pitfalls of banking the future of your franchise on a rookie QB, something that multiple teams do each season with usually poor results.
Caleb Williams is all unverified potential, but what about Justin Fields? He just finished his third season where he went 5-8(in one of those losses he was injured before the game concluded) with 16 TDs through the air and four on the ground, but he did have nine interceptions. He had more bad games then good in his first six games and the team went 1-5. While he was hurt Tyson Bagent went 2-2 and starting plenty of talk that Fields should remain on the bench. Fields did get the starting job back and went 4-3 to end the season with a personal 5-8 record(the team went 7-10). Now one might look at that and believe that Justin Fields is clearly a poor QB who throws too many picks and not enough TDs. And I will admit it does look bad, but to fully evaluate a QB you must analyze his surroundings. I am not a Bears fan but a look at the stats shows that Fields was sacked 44 in just 13 games, and when you remember that he a is a speedy running QB a high sack count implies that his offensive line isn’t protecting him very well. Some say he holds onto the ball too long and if he is, why is that? Justin Fields had no real weapons aside from D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet. Moore and Kmet combined for 14 of the 19 receiving TDs by the Bears. Fields was the top rusher and he was backed by Khalil Herbert and D’Onta Foreman who combined for a little over 1k yards. When you have no rushing attack it makes it that much harder to throw. Could Peyton Manning or Drew Brees do something with this team? Probably, but Fields isn’t a Hall of Fame QB, he needs more help.
All I’m trying to say with all these words is that you shouldn’t bet on a QB who hasn’t taken a pro snap when you have a battle-tested young QB who just needs some offensive help. Fields wasn’t great, yes he did have some rough moments, but imagine if the field was opened up more with Keenan Allen opposite D.J. Moore. Just picture D’Andre Swift coming out of the backfield and taking a screen 10+ yards. These are just some of the scenes Justin Fields could’ve seen, and what Caleb Williams will see. The Bears are gambling their future on a rookie QB, they better hope it hits.
