LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- With six games to go in his third NFL season, Bears quarterback Justin Fields continues to have many questions to answer about his future in Chicago.
The passing numbers have to continue to improve. He has to be more efficient and productive during the fourth quarter. The Bears must see him consistently operate the offense in four-minute and two-minute situations. The flash plays are important. Fields' legs are a rare weapon that most quarterbacks don't have. If he can fine-tune his passing ability, the Bears can feel comfortable continuing to build around him as their franchise quarterback.
For all the things Fields has to prove before getting the franchise QB stamp of approval, there's one vital aspect of being an NFL signal-caller that he has that you can't teach: leadership.
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While questions about Fields' long-term staying power in Chicago have swirled outside Halas Hall, faith has never wavered inside the Bears' locker room. Veteran leaders respect the 24-year-old quarterback for his work ethic and accountability and believe in his unique abilities. Younger teammates trust Fields and will follow his lead.
There are different ways to lead in the NFL.
Over the past two seasons, Fields has repeatedly shown that he has the leadership box on the franchise QB checklist marked in ink.
He did so again Wednesday at Halas Hall when he was asked about continuing to believe in Tyler Scott after the rookie wide receiver "misjudged" a critical pass on third-and-9 late in the Bears' 31-26 meltdown loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
"One game is not going to define if I go back to him," Fields said. "To be honest, with you, I don’t care if you keep dropping the ball because everybody -- we have our own individual responsibility to help this team be successful. If the receiver’s open, I’m going to throw him the ball, and if he drops it, it’s his responsibility to catch the ball. That’s his job. He gets paid to do that.
"I’m not losing faith in him one game, two games, however many games, I’m going to keep going back to him. He’s going to be a great receiver, he has a lot of room to grow and he’s talented even now. He’s made a lot of plays for us this year on offense, special teams. He’s a speedster. Not many DBs can keep up with him. That one game, whatever it was. He had a tough game, but we’ve all had tough games. As a football player, you have tough games. I’ve had a lot of tough games. It does nothing but make me better, make him better. At the end of the day, he’s a hard worker. He’s not going to let one, two, three games define who he is as a player. I have full faith in Tyler. Everybody else does, too."
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Last season, after a 27-24 loss to the Falcons in Atlanta, Fields walked into the locker room and apologized to the defense for throwing a game-ending pick after suffering a separated left shoulder. Safety Eddie Jackson immediately stopped the apology.
It was a small moment. One that can cynically be viewed as a sports cliche. But it showed why, even when his play is inconsistent, the players in the locker room trust that Fields is their guy.
“It showed us what we already knew," safety Eddie Jackson told NBC Sports Chicago of the apology at the time. "The type of player he is. Leader he is. He’s a winner, fighter. He’ll go out there and leave everything on the line. Things we already knew. The things everyone sees man, it’s true. Justin’s a fighter, a winner, a leader. He really takes this thing serious in how he prepares, how he works, and how he plays the game. He takes it serious. That’s just things we already knew about him though.”
Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson echoed Jackson's sentiment.
"He takes a lot of accountability for this team's success," Johnson told NBC Sports Chicago then. "We know who he is. What he’s about it. It’s really no surprise to us. He’s always been that guy, that leader, somebody to take accountability, been somebody to lead this team and to take everything on.
"He never backs down. He hasn’t batted an eye at anything. He’s always first in line for whatever it is. Really he’s our leader. It just speaks to who he is as our leader. He just keeps showing up.”
That apology wasn't the only time during a turbulent 3-14 season that Fields' leadership was a bright spot.
During the Bears' 41-10 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 17, wide receiver Chase Claypool blew up on the sideline. Claypool came off the field, tossed his helmet and started having words with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
That's when Fields went over to calm the receiver down and get everyone on the same page.
"I talked to him like, ‘That’s not going to do anything. That’s not helping anybody," Fields said that day in Detroit. "That’s just spreading everybody apart. We need to be here for each other, stick with each other, and fight,'" Fields said. "Not many teams in this league are going to fight the way we did. I just, I don’t know, I’m getting really passionate. It’s like every drive we’re going out and I’m like, ‘Yo, I don’t care what the score is. We’re going to play our hardest.’ They know that I’m doing that. Of course, going back on Chase, he’s passionate but just has to learn how to control those emotions and keep it inside and just know what’s going to be best for the team.”
Fields' leadership that day was the lone bright spot in a dismal day in Detroit.
Almost a calendar year later, the Bears suffered a different kind of heartbreak in Detroit. But again, Fields was relied on to display leadership to lift up a vital member of his arsenal.
Fields plans to be in Chicago long term. He understands the stakes of the next six games, but he wants to be the face of the franchise.
Finding a franchise quarterback is an inexact science. Teams can and will overthink every piece of the equation.
The leadership portion is an abstract part of the puzzle. Several teams thought Justin Herbert wouldn't make it because he's quiet and has interests outside of football. Jay Cutler had all the ability in the world but didn't have the galvanizing aurora that elevates quarterbacks from good to great or great to elite.
There's no question that Fields has a lot to prove before the Bears can etch his name in stone under the quarterback portion of their rebuild.
But when you're looking for a franchise quarterback, you're also looking for a leader. Someone whose presence creates belief and draws teammates to line up behind him -- a gravitational pull that's hard to describe and even harder to discover in the pre-draft process.
Fields has that vital franchise quarterback box checked. If he can check the others in the final six games, a season that looks lost might wind up being a success after all.