Well, we had every chance of beating the Saints, but he threw 3 interceptions and coughed up a key fumble. We lost by 7 points because we gave up 17 points via his turnovers. They spent almost the entire 2nd half on our end of the field. I’m hoping for a Fields return this coming Thursday night.
The fact that you’re both right says all that needs saying about the Bears’ QB prospects.
If Fields could always play like he did against Denver and Washington, we’d be in great shape. But he’s looked awful in just about every other start this season. Bagent does more things right, but he doesn’t always do them well. He’s not the answer, either.
The answer is playing college ball right now, if we’re lucky. But if history holds, the answer is currently in high school. Or grade school. Or not born yet.
Fields had a nice first half vs Denver but he was almost as terrible as Bagent in the second half of that game. And I needn’t remind you that this is Fields 3rd season…
Clearly Bagent isn’t ready, but Fields not being a clear improvement tells me everything I need to know. He’s a finished product and that product sucks. He simply cannot run an offense. He’s too inaccurate and doesn’t pull the trigger or even seem to see wide open targets. He makes all the wrong adjustments at the line and seems incapable of working through progressions.
Teams aren’t really blitzing Bagent because he anticipates them and gets the ball out for positive gains. So Bagent has a lot of time in the pocket. Fields gets blitzed like crazy because he absolutely falls apart so he has no time to throw. If the difference in pocket stability over the last 2-3 games holds up and Fields gets all day to throw, maybe we’ll see something. I’m not holding my breath.
I’m almost certain that Bagent is starting against the Panthers Thursday, so we’ll get one more look against an undermanned defense.
1st season: Under Matt Nagy who didn’t want to play him, but wanted to keep him as a wildcard so he could maybe keep his job. He threw him to the wolves against Cleveland and almost got him killed. There wasn’t one play with a TE or RB staying in to chip help against Garrett and Clowney. Nagy did nothing to help Fields in season 1.
2nd season: Complete tear-down, tank year with no attempt to win. Worst defense and roster in the league. Coaches did not game plan for Justin’s strengths until after the mini bye. We responded by beating NE and scoring over 30 or almost 30 points the next 5 weeks. We lost 4 of those 5 because we gave up a boat load of points. Fields did not cost us one of those games.
3rd season: Inexplicably the coaches seemed to forget everything they learned last year about how to scheme and game plan to Fields’ strengths. The defense also sucked to start the year. The OLine started the year as a patchwork MASH unit of injuries and guys playing out of position. The defense has started to play much better now then anytime earlier this season. The OLine is healthy and has been playing much better (both coinciding with the win over the raiders, which seems to be credited solely to Bagent and his 160 passing yards for some reason, rather than improved defense, OLine play and an opponent that was in free fall with Brian Hoyer starting).
Fields has yet to play this year with the defense and OLine playing as they are now. Yes he has been maddeningly inconsistent, as another poster said earlier in the thread, but his highs are very high and that seems to be totally ignored by his critics. They focus on the bad and pretend he didn’t lead the team to explosive output for a long stretch last year with the worst roster in the league. That gets memory-holed.
We have Fields for next year already, and if we want to, we have an option for the year after that. There is no reason to give up totally on him now. If he comes back and plays like shit the rest of the year behind our OLine playing like this, and with our defense playing at least league average, then we can talk. Bagent is a nice guy to have on the roster and in the QB room with an eye on the future. We are nowhere near being a playoff contender right now. Poles even said at the beginning of the year that we are only 70% there in the rebuild. So why the rush to final judgement on Fields right now? It makes no sense with where this team is.
As predicted Bagent is getting another start tomorrow.
Will be interesting to watch how the narrative flips if Bagent beats up on that dismal and shorthanded Panthers team.
Going to tonight’s game. Will be fun to potentially watch Bagent whip up on a dismal Panthers team. For once I can root for a Bears W without that nagging voice in the back of my head whispering about us ruining our shot at a rookie QB.
Unfortunately no Week 10’ thread yet, so I’ll post here.
It could be an entertaining story if (when) Bagent goes out there and out plays Bryce Young tonight. The hot take artists will have a field day tomorrow.
I admit I checked out of that game after the first half. God, that was some bad football.
But Bagent gets the win, which continues to be a huge source of amusement to me. Anytime a QB throws for 162 yards total yards on 33 attempts, a 73 passer rating, a sub-3 completed air yards, and is still lauded, I have to smile.
Whelp. Small blessings.
One of the boring-est games I’ve ever seen. Even the punt return TD seemed to happen in slow motion.
Bagent didn’t look as decisive as he did in previous games, but he didn’t turn the ball over, and that 3rd down pass for the clinching first down was pretty clutch. He’s a perfectly adequate QB2. Let’s get Fields back for Detroit.
It always feel like this stupid team always over corrects. In Bagent’s first game he has a league low air yards. So in the next couple games he’s pushing the ball downfield and trying to get splash plays. Of course that doesn’t work at all. He throws 5 bad INTs and they respond by going crazy conservative.
Well, he only threw three INTs, and lost a fumble. 
But you’re right – I’m sure they drilled into him that against a terrible team like Carolina, he should take no chances with ball security.
My fondest hope is that Fields watched Bagent carefully these last few weeks and learned something about footwork, reading his progressions, and getting the ball out quickly. And that he doesn’t forget it all the instant Aidan Hutchinson gets within two yards.
I meant over two games.
Looks like Fields is healthy enough to play. Do you Bears fans want to answer who you think should start? Have you seen enough of Bagent?
I’ve maintained since day 1 that Fields should start as soon as physically able. But also yes, I’ve seen enough of Bagent – although I do hope Fields learned a few things from him about footwork, timing, and reading defenses.
I’m curious to see how Fields looks with an offensive line that is actually able to establish a running game and pass protect, and with a defense that isn’t the 32nd ranked in the league. This is not the same team from the first 3 games of this season. Let’s see how we look for the last 7 games and then we can analyze and make decisions about the draft and next year.
Top 15 drafted QBs since 2016:
Jarod Goff
Carson Wentz
Mitch Trubisky
Patrick Mahomes
Deshaun Watson
Baker Mayfield
Sam Darnold
Josh Rosen
Kyler Murray
Daniel Jones
Dwayne Haskins
Joe Burrow
Tua Tagoviola
Justin Herbert
Trevor Lawrence
Zack Wilson
Trey Lance
Justin Fields
Mac Jones
Bryce Young
CJ Stroud
Anthony Richardson
I count (generously) 7 out of 22 that are or appear to be top-tier NFL quarterbacks. That is a whole lot of failure in highly drafted quarterbacks. How much is bad scouting/draft analysis, and how much is drafting a college kid to a real bad team and expecting him to save the franchise? I honestly think our best bet is to use our draft picks to build up our roster, which is already getting better, rather than put all of our eggs into the basket of yet another rookie QB at the top of the draft. I think too many teams do it backwards. It’s better to build a good team, and then add your quarterback, instead of bottoming out, drafting a kid, and then being frustrated when that kid can’t win a superbowl on his own.
I can see the logic of this idea, even though I honestly don’t think Fields is the answer. (I’d be delighted for him to prove me wrong over the next seven games, of course.) Draft the best WR and edge rusher we can next year, and see how much we improve with the last cheap year on Fields’ contract.
Stroud is proving a rookie QB can help lead a team to a quick turnaround, but as you point out it’s damn hard to separate the Strouds from the Darnolds, and the team they join has a lot to do with it.
I don’t know that he is the answer either, but if we stack this roster around him, and he doesn’t work out, then we have a great roster, and we just need to find a QB to win with. Worst case scenario is we have a really good team and need to find a QB to add to the mix. Best case scenario Super Bears Super Bowl!!!
Except of course, with a really good team we’re drafting in the middle of the first round or later, where it’s even harder to draft a top QB. Or we’re trading for one or going with a free agent, both of which are roads to nowhere we’ve been down too many times already.
Well there’s no perfect answer here. Tanking every year for the top pick and taking another spin at the roulette wheel doesn’t seem like a successful route either. Cleveland had the top pick how many years in a row? Didn’t do them much good.
With an existing very good team, a QB that can win is possible to acquire. Geno Smith, Purdy, Goff are three recent examples. Hell, we can go back to Denver bringing in Manning at the end of his career for a SuperBowl win, Brees going to the Saints. That was the plan for the Jets this year, and without Rogers injury, who knows where they’d be right now. It happens. Probably with a greater record of success than recent top of the first round of the draft QBS have had.