During the 2022 season Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields struggled as a rookie. However one former teammate had “special” praise for his former teammate in a recent radio interview.
Former Bears and Eagles offensive tackle Jason Peters appeared on SiriusXM satellite radio to talk about some things he’s enjoying in retirement and about how he sees Justin Fields developing as he progresses in the NFL. Peters was in Chicago for 15 games a year ago, coming out of retirement to bail out the Bears who lost four offensive tackles to injury. Peters offered up high praise for the Bears’ young signal caller stating,
“As long as the offensive line gives him some time, he’ll do OK this year. Once he gets that offensive line set, that guy’s going to be special because he can throw, he can run, he can make all the plays he needs to make.”
Peters also talked about Justin Fields’ first season last year:
“He got hurt right there in the middle of it,” Peters said. “He’s going to need his offensive line to block for him, give him some time — because he’s young — to go through his reads. Once he gets older and gets into the groove, because right now he’s going to be like a rookie with the new system pretty much with a new coaching staff, I’m pretty sure they’ve got a whole new system for him, new plays.”
Peters calling Fields special is a very intriguing development because after 17 years in the NFL and putting together a resume worthy of the Hall of Fame, Peters knows a thing or two about football and quarterbacking. Peters also didn’t have to speak so highly of Justin Fields because he was only here as an emergency injury fill-in. He doesn’t have to balance the locker room dynamic of still being a part of the Bears. He’s free to speak his mind openly and honestly regarding Fields.
The important question is can Justin Fields be special outside of the development of the rest of the Bears. Because there’s a clear difference between a QB who plays at an exceptional level when losing and a QB who needs the team around him to be good, to play well when winning.
That will be the dynamic the Bears have to try and figure out with Fields, is he the reason the Bears win every week, or is the team around him the reason the Bears are winning.
QBs that have that have that exceptional ability in the NFL right now would be Russell Wilson, Joe Burrow, Tom Brady, DeShaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Justin Herbert. All but two of those players reside in the AFC. Teams that have good teams that support their good QB well would be the 49ers with Jimmy Garoppolo, the Rams with all of the talent that support Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins with the Vikings and Derek Carr with the Raiders.
Hopefully this season we’ll see a lot of Justin Fields playing exceptional football in a losing role, and his exceptional play beating teams who so obviously don’t have a good QB or who have an outright mediocre QB. If Peters’ opinion of Fields rings true, the Bears will be fine for the next decade and a half.
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