It's about to become the biggest talking point of the Bears' offseason if it hasn't already catapulted to most discussions.
Should the Bears stick with Justin Fields? Or, should they use the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft to find a new signal caller? One former No. 2 pick and NFL quarterback weighed in on the discussion.
"Don't stop before the miracle happens," Ryan Leaf said on The Dan Patrick Show. "That's the thing in the NFL a lot of times. You just walk off and leave assets at the door."
The last thing Ryan Poles and the Bears want to do is ditch Fields, then the third-year quarterback takes off in the future. You also don't want to be the guy who stuck with Fields and continued to pass on high-level quarterbacks who end up becoming better than Fields.
The Bears did the latter last season, passing on Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud (ouch) and Anthony Richardson in the draft. Are they willing to do the same this offseason with Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, etc.?
The question is this --- who are you most confident can bring you a Super Bowl? Is that Fields? Is he a good enough passer to take the Bears to the next level?
Chicago Bears
"I do think he's a good enough passer, yes. I think he's improved. I think he'll continue to improve," Leaf said. "I think this offseason, the fact that they're keeping their head coach and Getsy's gonna be the guy offensive coordinator-wise, that's gonna be the first for him to have back-to-back years."
Side note: let's pretend Leaf didn't say Luke Getsy is a certainty to return next season. That's a whole other story.
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But, it's true, Fields has shown improvements on the field, especially since returning from the thumb injury that left him out four weeks. It showed last Sunday against the Falcons.
A recent film breakdown from "The QB School" would suggest Fields has shown tangible improvements. Former NFL quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan pointed out several strong, improving points of Fields' game, including: improved accuracy, sneaky ball fakes, further progression on reads.
Leaf also made a curious point about the Bears' co-signing on Fields staying with the team. He argued their co-sign is essential to his confidence and will catapult him into better play with the team.
"I think that's good," Leaf said about the risk in running it back. "I think there's some investment there's some desperation in what that looks like and they're all tied to it and in together. If they all believe that with one another, if Ryan Poles has sat down with Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus and said 'Hey, I got your back' ... because that's what we're looking for so much as players from ownership or the front office. We want somebody to have your back. And if they don't believe in you, they're not going to have that and it's just gonna be this up-and-down thing that you play and you cannot be successful. You cannot be a champion at that level if you don't have that kind of backing."
