The Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields, the No. 11 pick three years ago, to the Steelers on Saturday for a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick. It escalates to a fourth-rounder if he plays at least 51% of their snaps this season, though he will begin as Russell Wilson’s backup.
The Bears saw potential in Fields, but not consistency — and not enough overall to sway them from planning their future around consensus No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams. As the team prepares to send a delegation to USC for his Pro Day on Wednesday, a source said it is focused on him as its next quarterback.
Fields said goodbye on X as he prepared to relaunch his career at 25.
“Can’t say thank you enough to the City of Chicago for taking me in and embracing me,” he wrote. “Ready for this next chapter!”
It’s another failure at quarterback for the Bears, piling on their dreary history. Former general manager Ryan Pace gave up a future first-rounder to move up and get Fields, and now general manager Ryan Poles is left with merely a late-round pick to show for it.
Fields exits after three haphazard seasons in which he was an electric runner but one of the NFL’s least productive passers. While his highlight reel is thrilling, those dazzling plays were sporadic and mostly as a runner. The rest of the league’s minimal interest in him as a starter reflected that.
There were inquiries, but little action. The team had two offers for Fields after the first wave of free agency, and Poles declined a slightly better return in order to send Fields to the best possible situation, a source said. Poles said last month he wanted to “do right” by Fields while still maintaining the Bears’ best interests.
It would’ve been untenable for the team to have Fields looming as the backup behind Williams, and it likely would’ve had to cut Fields if it wasn’t able to trade him by May.
The Bears were encouraged by Fields’ modest improvement late last season, but weren’t convinced he’d arrive as a championship-level quarterback quickly enough for their timeline. This season would’ve been the last cheap one on his rookie deal before they would’ve had to pay him $25.7 million on his fifth-year option.
With Williams, though, the clock resets at quarterback, and the Bears will have him at a manageable salary-cap number through 2027.
There was reason to be dissatisfied with Fields even if the Bears didn’t have the No. 1 pick. There could be as many as six quarterbacks drafted in the first round, and the team has graded several of them highly enough to justify a change.
There’s no disputing that Fields faced hindrances with the Bears, who first saddled him with a dysfunctional coaching staff under Matt Nagy then surrounded him with a depleted roster, but he had an opportunity to show enough promise for the team to make him its franchise quarterback.
Other highly drafted quarterbacks encountered similar circumstances and made their case, like Texans rookie C.J. Stroud last season.
Fields ranked 27th in completion percentage (61.4), 22nd in yards passing (2,562), and 20th in touchdown passes (16) and passer rating (85.6) last season.
His cumulative 82.3 passer rating ranked 34th out of 37 players who threw at least 600 passes over the last three seasons and lower than Mitch Trubisky’s 87.2 in four seasons with the Bears. Fields failed to reach 200 yards passing in 25 out of 38 starts.
He finished his Bears career with 40 touchdown passes, 30 interceptions, a 60.3 completion percentage, an average of 166.9 yards passing and a 10-28 record as their starter. He also rushed for 2,220 yards and 14 touchdowns and is one of three quarterbacks in league history to have a 1,000-yard rushing season.
Assuming Williams steps in right away, he will be the 26th player to start at quarterback for them in 20 seasons.
