As Black Monday hits the NFL, most Bears fans are focused on the futures of head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. But the biggest crossroads the Bears will face this offseason is their decision about the quarterback. Namely, should the Bears trade Justin Fields and draft a new QB this year? Or should they keep Fields, trade away the No. 1 pick again, and use the draft capital to build around him?
On Monday the Bears held their exit interviews with players. Star wide receiver DJ Moore said Fields came up over the course of his conversation, and that he “bored him up.” It’s unclear how much weight GM Ryan Poles and the rest of the Bears brass will give to the feedback they receive from players on Fields, but if Moore has a vote he made sure the world knew where he stands.
“For Justin to be here? It’ll be amazing,” Moore said. “Nobody really wants to start all the way over and either have a losing season again or maybe have a… Joe Burrow. You could have that kind of season. You never know. It’s a hit or miss.”
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The Bears know what they have in Fields, and there’s something to that. As Moore said, drafting a QB– no matter how highly touted that QB is– is a bit of a crapshoot. From Moore’s perspective, it’d probably be nice to have consistency at the position after cycling through Cam Newton, Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen, Will Grier, Teddy Bridgewater, P. J. Walker, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield over five seasons in Carolina.
Of course Fields is also the guy who facilitated the best season of Moore’s career. Moore set personal bests this year in catches (96), receiving yards (1,364), receiving touchdowns (8) and catch percentage (70.6%). Will the Bears put any stock in those numbers, considering Moore was the centerpiece of the trade that sent the No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers last year?
“It’s really not up to me, but just to have a voice on it is pretty good,” Moore said.
We likely won’t have clarity on Fields’ future for several months. After completing their exit interviews and in-house evaluations, the Bears will set their sights on the incoming rookie prospects in earnest. From there, they’ll make their decision on whether to keep Fields or move on to someone else.
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“He’s the quarterback of the Chicago Bears until otherwise,” Moore said. “And I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon. We’ll see.”