The offseason started in earnest on Friday night time, when the Chicago Bears traded the No. 1 total decide to the Carolina Panthers. Chicago acquired a large haul to maneuver down eight spots to the No. 9 choice, bringing within the No. 61 decide, a 2024 first-round decide, a 2025 second-round decide, and broad receiver D.J. Moore.
The transfer units Chicago as much as concurrently pursue two paths: One the place Justin Fields is their quarterback of the longer term, and one the place he isn’t.
Fields confirmed great enchancment in his second NFL season, rising as some of the thrilling and dynamic gamers in all of soccer. He did so largely by making performs along with his legs, whether or not on designed runs or exterior the construction of the offense when scrambling. (He was at his simplest as a scrambler. See under.) In all, Fields rushed 160 occasions for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 video games, main the league with a 7.1 yards per carry common and falling simply in need of breaking Lamar Jackson’s single-season report for quarterback speeding yards.
Run TypeDesignedScrambleRush9070Yards428715TD44Yds/Rush4.810.twenty first Down30351D/Rush33.3percent50.0percentExpl919Expl/Rush10.0percent27.1%
Fields did present some development as a passer. His completion share went up by 1.5 share factors, his landing fee greater than doubled from 2.6% to five.3%, his yards per try common ticked up barely, his off-target throw fee went down, and he transformed third-down alternatives via the air extra usually.
But he additionally nonetheless confirmed some critical liabilities. Fields’ interception fee remained sky-high at 3.5%, he took a league-high 55 sacks as his sack fee spiked from 11.8% to an totally preposterous 14.7% (he was additionally sacked on a larger share of his pressured dropbacks than throughout his rookie season), and whereas the aforementioned numbers in completion fee, off-target throw fee, yards per try, and third-down conversion fee all acquired higher from Year 1 to Year 2, they had been all nonetheless fairly far under common.
Some of these shortcomings will be at the least partially attributed to Fields’ sub-par supporting forged, however some cannot, and none of them will be completely blamed on his environment. All of which is why it is vital that the Bears have begun the method of surrounding him with higher expertise. The extra good gamers he has round him, the higher likelihood they’ve to guage whether or not they need to provide him a contract extension when he turns into eligible for one subsequent offseason.
If they get constructive data on that entrance, nice! Now they’ve two extra first-round picks subsequent 12 months to proceed upgrading their roster. But if Fields would not take the step ahead they clearly hope he can, then they’ve two picks with which they’ll attempt to transfer up the board for somebody like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye in subsequent 12 months’s draft.
It’s quite a bit like the trail the Philadelphia Eagles pursued final offseason, once they weren’t but certain that Jalen Hurts was their man. They moved down within the draft to accumulate an additional 2023 decide, whereas additionally buying and selling for A.J. Brown to offer Hurts a greater likelihood to reach the rapid time period. Chicago has an extended solution to go earlier than its roster is in the identical place as Philadelphia’s was a 12 months in the past, however the one solution to get nearer to that time is to accumulate extra expertise. That course of has began, and in a approach that permits the Bears to take care of flexibility.
