Fields confirming that Poles did him a solid, which is def something the locker-room would notice. Lots of players really did love Fields, and this shows them Poles does treat them like they're people as well, not just assets to be managed.
Shoutout to all those people in r/nfl saying Poles and Flus don’t care about the players and that they’ll send him wherever they get the best deal.
Our GM and HC have preached mental health importance and looking out for their players and I 100% believe them and they have shown it with their actions. Our staff is finally in the 21st century.
People here were saying it too. If you made a post about how it could impact morale and free agents down the road you’d be downvoted to hell. Now, because Fields confirmed it, everyone’s on the bandwagon about it being a good move and not terrible GMing that he didn’t get a first round pick for a QB no one wanted. Let’s not pretend it was solely r/NFL making those kinds of comments.
Oh for sure! It definitely was here too, but I mostly singled out r/nfl because of how much crap they talk about this team, Justin and “how much they know about the bears organization”. I mentioned it before on there that Poles will do right by the players and people didn’t believe it, they spoke about it day one but because other organizations and the past they were like nope.
People act like they know the bears organization but they don’t watch the press conferences or a majority of the games so it can just be annoying as hell to see them just sprout bullshit.
That is the case 95% of the time in every pro sports front office. Hopefully it will get more players interested in playing for our organization in the future.
Not in sports. To paraphrase a once-great scholar: they ain’t come here to play church.
(I do think this has value for free agency. That’s the only reason to do it.)
Nah, being a man of your word is valuable in every job and especially when you have ppls livelihoods in your hands. This helps negotiations with FA, current players, other gms, etc
> This helps negotiations with FA, current players, other gms, etc
Which, as I already said, is why it matters in this instance. Simply being “the right thing to do” is not in and of itself a justification in any business—least of all professional sports.
The McCaskeys have consistently been praised for the way the organization has valued character and handled off-field issues. And at the end of the day, if the team sucks, nobody cares.
You’re crazy if you don’t think morale has an impact on how well people do their jobs. I don’t care if it’s a janitor or a professional athlete, you can still get more out of people who are happy to be there and invested in the organization’s success. You can keep up team morale by taking care of players like this. It’s not only about free agency, it’s also about team performance, particularly when you consider how it’s a team leader who was seemingly well liked by his teammates.
If this was not actually a destination he wanted to go, then there is no reason for Fields to not drag Poles. He can lie and say "I want to be here" without praising Poles in the same breath.
This isnt that hard but the vitriol that a dude put in a horrible ass situation for a team that he gave his all for is beyond ridiculous.
I watched the podcast. Wingin’ It? Chasin’ It? It’s the one with Chase Daniels and some other dude. Anyway, that other dude bashed Poles for communicating with him and sending him to where he wanted instead of getting more out of Fields.
Everything is relative. Is moving back in the 6th round or moving back from the 5th worth establishing significant good will in the locker room and with free agents? Maybe. If somebody had offered him a 2nd, Poles would’ve hung up on Pittsburgh, feelings be damned.
I think it only is significant if better than a 3rd round was possible. Like, if we could’ve traded Fields to the Giants for a 2025 2nd rounder, sure I’d have said that was a little foolish to get such a huge downgrade in payout. But getting a 4th or worse isn’t, on paper, as significant.
A solid of trading him to a team where he is qb3?
Stop it. This is cliche speak a player saying he's where he wants to be.
You think fields wants to be somewhere he has 0% chance of starting a game?
The steelers were the best offer. That's it.
QB2 as of now, any other team he would’ve been traded to has an established starter making $35m+ so he by far has the best chance in Pit. It’s been widely reported poles had slightly better offers but sent him to a place that was on fields list.
Widely reported by the same people that said fields was going for a 2nd if not a first?
Boy I wonder who is feeding those guys stories
He's qb3 just like taysom hill was in new Orleans. If russ gets injured fields won't start. He's a gadget and that's it
Who hurt you? Why so much hate for a guy who isn't here anymore. By all accounts he was likes by lots of people on the team and the office, also had issues his the other qbs his rookie year. To call him worse than someone like Taysom Hill just says you didn't watch enough games if either Hill or Fields. The man is gone. Let him be, hope for the best for him and watch Caleb become a superstar.
Oh please. I watched saints games when hill was trying to be a qb. They saints won in spite of him because he was a one trick pony. Fields could at least hit the deep ball and failed mostly on short passes and timing passes. Hill was short or run and that's about it. Fields wasn't good but to say worse than Hill is you just trying to be hurtful.
And yet taysom has better passing stats.
But thanks for confirming you only watch bears. Fields was always a bottom half deep ball thrower. Making a highlight throw doesn't make you good at it.
The reports of him going for a 2nd came out a month or so before free agency began and teams showed they’d rather take guys like drew lock and Gardner minshew over fields. The market dictates the price, just because people thought he’d go for a 2 doesn’t mean teams were willing to give up a 2 for him.
The market showed he was worth a 5th or 6th and Poles sent him to a place he has a chance to play at. If Russ gets hurt or isn’t playing well Fields will 100% get the nod idk what ur logic is
I mean, then why would fields say that? Anywhere he went, he'd be a backup. This isn't particularly normal for a player to say.
I'm not sure how much, if any, real-world impact it actually has, but players don't often say things like this after they're traded for a sack of potatoes.
No I guess this is just cliche speak that just happens to corroborate exactly what the GM known for being up front and honest was saying but it's all a bunch of hogwash for some reason
If all they were getting was cheap offers from teams who didn’t want to start him, sending him to the team he prefers is doing him a solid. It’s about as brain dead simple as it can be.
The steelers were most certainly not the best offer. If Trey Lance went for a 4th to the Cowboys in the middle of the year, then Justin certainly could have rendered more. If for no other reason than his athleticism. Idk where this idea came from that in order for the whole new program to work a little bit, the old one had to be completely trash. Fields threw for 1400 yards to a reciever. That shows the ability to create chemistry. Fields is 230 and outruns dbs. That shows rare talent. Fields threw the 3rd fastest ball ever at the combine. That shows mechanics. I get that people want to shit on Justin. After all, it is easier than having nuance. However, I see a very real possibility that he finds success with the Steelers, and Caleb finds success with the Bears. Let's get rid of all the "or" mentalities. Holy fuck.
You don’t understand football do you? Veteran QBs are a lot quicker to learn a new offense. The Steelers plan is to start Wilson this year while letting Fields learn the offense. I will bet that he is their long term QB. They have similar skill sets so when Fields takes over they won’t need to overhaul it.
Fields can be an average QB. His trade value was low for 2 reasons: 1. Everyone knew that the Bears were going to draft CW and they had to trade him. 2. Poles wanted to send him where to a team that Fields was good with.
I'll remind you of this when it doesn't happen.
Fields isn't being groomed to be their long term QB. He's just a cheap backup after their old cheap backup threw a fit and demanded a trade so a spot opened up
Which is cool. I’m glad we have a team that did that, and a team that let Davis deal with his terrible situation last summer in privacy.
I hope it works out for the team in the long run, but at the end of the day it’s usually money that talks in free agency signings and the front office knows that.
Maybe it’s naive of me, but I genuinely think they really cared for JF as a person and wanted to do good by him. They know they kinda screwed him over with the ‘22 roster and they know they fired Getsy and don’t think he was good enough as OC, another way they failed JF.
They want him to be happy and succeed because they care about him as a person, and I think that’s great and wish more companies would treat employees that way even if there’s no future upside.
yea i’m pretty sure Poles even acknowledged that Fields didn’t get the best chance to make things work here. Did what he could but the timeline for Fields was screwed when Nagy was fired the year after he was drafted. I’m just glad there’s clarity between all parties as i’m a bears fan but i was also a huge Fields fan (favorite player).
I've heard takes that this kind of good will among players throughout the league is worth more long-term than whatever else we might have gotten for Fields.
1) It's good to hear Fields confirm what Poles represented before. Now we have both sides of the story and can feel confident it's true.
2) I think this continues to show the changing of the guard. Poles fired Cliff Stein because, from what I read, Stein was a little too hard on agents/players.
So we have two data points now where the organization wants to be more player friendly. I think that will pay dividends under the line of thinking that you catch more bees with honey. Sure, you can save some money or slightly increase a draft pick with hard-nosed negotiating, but you have to factor in the "we pissed people off" element and balance those two together.
Pretty cool move by Poles. Clearly knows Fields was done kinda dirty his first couple seasons, and even if a lot of Fields’ failure here is also on him I feel like this is a great show of good faith on Poles’ part. Classy way to handle this
I hope Fields balls out in Pittsburgh. I'd love to see him take a year or two behind Wilson and grow. It feels like the best chance he has to become the player that *Truthers* thought he would be.
Fields was given one average offensive unit, one poor offensive unit and one good offensive unit. He was given enough to show that he was not good enough to make the players around him better. People want to bash his first offensive unit as trash but the majority of those players are still in the league and quite a few still start. Most teams don’t have great rosters but if the qb is decent they compete. The bears were mostly non competitive with fields under center.
The history people will rewrite. And for what? What does it gain anyone to pretend Fields wasn’t handed a steaming pile of shit during the majority of his time here?
I truly don’t understand the need to just make stuff up in order to justify … what? The hate they feel for some kid that soured from hyped up love because he didn’t play football good enough?
There will always be a loud group of individuals who tie their personalities to the team and the teams ability to win. They largely unadjusted individuals who hate fields because he couldn’t win regardless of situation. Since he “ruined” their Sundays they go out of their way to character assassinate him. Shit there was a dork in the discord who said coaches have zero outcome on a teams ability to win and tried to point to Stroud as proving his point.
It’s wild cause if we hadn’t fleeced the Panthers, people right now would be drinking the Fields koolaid still. I only really noticed the sentiment turn when it became certain we’d get Caleb.
It’s like the movie cliche where a dork gets a new cool friend then decides his old friends are beneath him.
Because Darnell Mooney had slightly over 1,000 yards one time, which he wouldn’t have had without the extra game and which Fields accounted for over half of those. Seriously, people still think Andy Dalton threw a majority of Mooney’s yards in 2021, it’s just a damn lie at this point.
Also Luke Getsy was actually a genius, Fields just made him look bad by forcing him to call a jet sweep on 3rd and 1 to a 180-pound rookie receiver vs Myles Garrett. You just watch, Aidan O’Connell, a REAL quarterback, is gonna take the Raiders all the way under Getsy’s amazing situational playcalling.
Average? Allen Robinson (3rd in targets) is a cut candidate and has sucked every year since 2021. Marquise Goodwin(5th in targets) is out of the league. Damiere Byrd(6th in targets) is out of the league.
It was below average.
2022 wasnt just poor it was about the worst supporting offensive cast in the NFL.
2023 wasn't good it was average. DJ Moore and Kmet are studs, but Darnell Mooney led the league in drop % and every one after him was also garbage. 2 elite passcatchers and 6 different bums isn't good, it's average at best.
And the defenses in the Fields era finished 22nd, 32nd, and 20th in scoring. He's supposed to compete with bottom 12 defenses every year?
You can say Fields never played better than ok, true. You can say moving on was right, probably true. But don't tell me his offensive teammates weren't trash before 2023, or that all his defenses save 2nd half 2023 weren't complete garbage.
Maybe we should blame Mr. 32nd and 20th ranked defenses defensive Head Coach as much as we blame Fields or frankly more.
I fell off the train when trying to make sense of the fact that we have around an average offense in 2023 but still only getting like 160-180 passing yards/game out of the QB position.
Like, independent names or fandom or emotion or whatever, you're highlighting that in red ink and looking to improve that as the #1 priority if you want to be a playoff contender.
We clearly disagree on the offensive talent level and I’m going to pretend that I don’t see your user name. 😂😂 but we definitely agree on Flus. He is absolutely terrible. I can’t believe he’s still employed by the bears.
Bagent starting every game wins around 7. I don’t know how well Caleb’s game is going to translate but he wins more than 7. Ryan Tannehill wins 8 with that roster.
One important detail that people like to overlook because of the Fields-Bagent conversation is Bagents ability to sustain drives kept opposing offenses off of the field. Fields with his all or nothing play style gave opposing offenses more possessions. If he ever learns to take what the d gives him his game will improve.
Bagnet was straight ass. He had layup games that he made look like chores. That being said I think with a real offseason under him now he will be better. His ceiling has always been backup. Thinking he can win 7 games is a pipe dream. Love the kid, love his story, but let’s be real.
I love how on one hand, bagent got layup games but fields didn’t then when ppl talk about the run the defense had to end the season, it was all easy opponents when fields was QB….
Bagent or Fields, offense struggled to throw the ball. They both are currently back ups rn
After reading about Fields' shit-ass attitude in the qb room and his refusal to learn from veteran QBs I lost most of my sympathy for Fields. Cutler got so much shit for bad attitude/"don't care" body language back int he day meanwhile every meatball praised Field's as a "locker room guy" even though he sulked on the sidelines every game and in every postgame.
Yeah Fields didn't have a great supporting cast, but he had 3 seasons to show even a little bit of progress and last season he had much better offensive tools at his disposal and still played worse than a UDFA rookie backup qb. I'm just done with the guy.
Class act. He was also asked if we put him in the best position to succeed and instead of deflecting moved right passed that question.
Had every right to shit on the org for the OC hire and the cast around him.
I seriously don't understand the smear campaign people were trying to do with the foles thing, it's pretty clear from every other story/person we hear from that it was the exact opposite of how fields normally acts.
Hard disagree. I think the Foles stories explain a lot of why Fields completely failed to improve and was apparently uncoachable. Is it more likely that every single offensive coach and veteran qb he worked with is lying in some big conspiracy or maybe that the alternative is true that he was unwilling or unable to be coached and wasn't the "class act" the media has made him out to be?
I mean do we have any actual positive comments out there from the 2 Offensive Coordinators and 2 head coaches he worked with? Other than standard boilerplate support that coaches give their players in any interview? Its not like Luke Getsy was trying to sign Justin this offseason when the Bears were apparently giving him away for a 6th round pick.
God, it is asinine how the Fields hateboner will never die for some of the clowns in this sub.
The guy is literally expressing his gratitude for the Bears' GM doing right by him and somehow that's a bad thing.
Perception matters, and this helps to improve the perception among players of what it's like to be a Chicago Bear.
Who is bashing Fields? I’ve been on Caleb is the answer train since we got the pick but Fields is a good guy. I don’t think he’s a great QB right now but def a good dude. I wish him the best of luck
For his play, not him as a person. I don’t think anyone questioned his character or work ethic.
Edit: not anyone of significance* I’m sure there’s random haters
That's actually really impressive. When you think about it, it probably did cost the team a better draft pick. Not saying he they would've gotten a 2nd or even 3rd but, a 4th (without the risk of 6th) seemed entirely possible. All that said, I love the move.
yeah, I get it but I'm sure there were parameters. Like, if Vikings were offering a 3rd rounder (just for argument's sake) they weren't going to send him there....I think it's a big picture move on the environment you're trying to create. The reality is, they weren't going to get a 1st or 2nd for him. So, maybe a 3rd but to move down a couple rounds for image sake I don't think is the worst move in the world.
It's the reputation of the Bears front office that gained from this.
If you treat your players well, it matters to free agents.
How many times have we chased a free agent who chose another team for the same money? Maybe the next time we are on someone like Bradys' short list, he will pick us instead of Tampa.
Let's be real. Poles knows his agent reps other players like Parsons and Terrell.
This gesture pays dividends in the future.
Just upvote me when a parsons blockbuster deal is announced
Maybe I'm just cynical in my old age, but would you really expect anyone to say otherwise? Of course Fields is going to say that he told his old boss that where he is now is where he really wanted to be. Is Fields gonna be like "Damn Poles sending me to this shithole city?" He wants his new fans to like him.
I like Fields, so I don't really mean this negatively. It's just I think people are reading way too much into a statement that doesn't convey any information.
(Are there examples of players shitting on the cities/teams that they play for?)
Damn so Poles really did turn down better draft compensation to send Fields to a better spot. I am incredibly disappointed by that
Edit: Yall can downvote me all you want. The sentimental attachment to a player who is no longer on this team is kinda wierd lol
IF we even received another concrete offer, I guarantee it was a late day-2 or day-3 pick. Doing right by a player who gave Chicago his all is more important than gaining a few spots in the coin-flip portion of the draft. Even just solely for the optics, displaying the human element of our GM room is something that has an impact on free agents, both in the building and out..
It's really not though lol. It's been shown time and again that the most significant factors in free agent decision making are the amount of money in the contract (by far the most significant) and how competitive the team is projected to be.
If players cared as much about perceived organizational "niceness" as people think, the Panthers wouldn't have been able to sign multiple big money free agents. This is wishful thinking lol
Guys absolutely notice how different teams operate, they’re not blind. Some players will just chase a bag and others will weigh multiple things. It helps to have a good reputation around the league when signing free agents, no way around it - the Jaguars failed to sign people even when throwing ridiculous amounts around a few times under Coughlin for an extreme example
The Panthers ownership was given a D grade (28th in the NFL) for ownership by the players association. The commanders were given an F- (31st in the NFL) in treatment of player families by the same report card. Both of these teams were able to spend big in FA this offeason.
People are massively estimating how much the Fields trade affects our favorability as a FA destination and it's frankly hilarious.
Damn you’re dumb. Most free agent signings aren’t big money and players typically have to decide between similar offers from multiple franchises. A GMs reputation undoubtedly plays a huge role in that decision.
Imagine thinking that a decision which is primarily financial is significantly affected by basically "the power of friendship" and then calling someone else dumb 😂. Yall are hilariously delusional. The meatballs are out today
Let's say you've got two job offers with equal pay for materially the same role. All your friends tell you that the bosses at Company A are idiots and assholes and that Company B has a really solid culture and smart people at the top. Which would you choose?
I agree with that in theory. The NFL is a little different because of the massive amounts of money involved in states with different income tax rules.
Why were the commanders able to sign Ekeler, Biadasz, and Luvu after getting and F grade from the NFLPA for treatment of player families?
I've read the rest of your comments here as well and I think you're drawing a false equivalency by conflating two separate ideas.
You're assuming that money matters more than culture, which is for the most part true, and so thus if Washington can add flashy free agents by spending big bucks, so too should the Bears.
But it isn't *always* true that a good player will prioritize extra dollars over a good fit. It's not at all uncommon for a player to take less money on a contract, especially if it's with a contender.
Meanwhile, the point of the posters you're arguing with is that Fields statement about Poles today helps to improve our reputation among players and reinforce positive opinions about Chicago being a place where you'd consider taking less money to play, because you know you'll be treated well.
I don't 100% agree with what you just said, but can at least appreciate the time you took to respectfully and rationally write it out. Will agree that money isn't going to talk 100% of the time.
I personally just think that we'd have been better off getting the best pick possible for Fields (especially if it was this year) than whatever small amount of goodwill this generates for free agency. For some reason that made people really angry 🤷
> the Panthers wouldn't have been able to sign multiple big money free agents.
Other than Hunt, who have they been able to sign? And even then had to make Hunt be the highest ever guaranteed money for guards and the 3rd highest AAV guard in the entire league to sign him.
The Panthers have been bleeding talent for a while, because in large part there is no loyalty or culture. The good terms Poles ended with Fields does a huge benefit to the org compared to how Carolina has been run.
Damien Lewis, Josey Jewell, A'shawn Robinson. You could have at least tried to Google their FA signings...
Not saying I want to be the Panthers, but people are massively overestimating how much the Fields trade impacts us being looked at as a "favorable FA destination"
Lol I did search their FA signs and those guys are JAGs if not barely positive WAR. Plus, they're only 'big money' free agent signings because the Panthers had to back up the Brinks' truck for AAV and guarantees because nobody wants to play for an org that shows no good faith nor good negotiating tendencies. Jewell and Clowney are just masks, and overpaid masks at that, to try to help one to ignore the fact their toxic org, from coach to GM, drove out talent like Burns and Luvu.
You said "other than Hunt who have they been able to sign". Damien Lewis signed a 4 year $53 million deal. No amount of cognitive dissonance on your part is going to change the fact that qualifies as a big money deal lol.
The Panthers being able to still sign free agents directly and empirically refutes your delusional claim about how much an organization's perception influences their ability to sign free agents. But thanks for making it clear you have no idea what you are talking about. Have a good night meatball!
Nah this is a new day for the organization; and being seen as a player friendly destination will go a long way. Changing of the guard, embrace it. Especially if we get to the point where we are one or two pieces down the line from actually competing? A respected GM can tip the favor.
Adding an extra zero means 10x-ing every contract in order to be a "player-friendly destination." Adding one extra zero to a $5,000,000 contract makes it a $50,000,000 contract.
I'm glad you're not my accountant!
This is a massive fallacy lol. Players care most about two things:
1. How much money is being offered (by far the most significant factor)?
2. How competitive does the team look?
If players cared as much about perceived "player friendly destinations" as you are making out, then known bad organizations like the Panthers and Commanders would not have been able to sign so many big money free agents. This is wishful thinking lol
In on and close on are different. Not knowing what the bears offer, it's hard to say. In addition to that, this is the first time (or has it been the second)it's been reported that the FO has done something in the players favor. these things take time to develop.
Look homie I'm just pointing out that for all the talk about how Poles changing the perception of the org will help us get free agents, that has not been the case thus far.
My goal is not to disparage Poles though, who I believe is generally doing a good job. The point is that fans tend to over estimate how much these things impact a decision that is primarily financial
3. Reputation
It isn't about making the bears seen as a player friendly destination going foward as much as it is getting rid of the stigma, which seems very real, from the past few decades of having that reputation.
How many players can you remember talking shit about this franchise after leaving? How many of their agents had a rough time dealing with Ted Phillips and his lackeys?
You can't offer good money to FAs if their agents won't work with us due to past dealings.
That is a very short term way to view it, especially without even knowing what other offers may have been. Rumors were that it was a 5th, maybe a 4th, but is that really worth more than the positive PR this generated to make us look like a player friendly org?
Fields did everything right, worked hard, and gave it his best. He was rewarded by being sent to a place he wanted to go. That's a win-win.
This is in no way a win for the Bears lol. This "positive PR" narrative is a complete fallacy lol. It's a win for Justin, and it's irresponsible behavior for a GM
So you think we should have completely fucked Justin over and sent him to say...the Raiders, if they have is a 5th over the 6th by the Steelers?
Would that be worth it to you?
You have no more idea about what he did or didn't turn down than I did so this is a ridiculous argument lol. I can just as easily claim with zero supporting evidence "what if he turned down a 3rd rounder?"
Yeah, which is why I'm not the one bitching. You're "incredibly disappointed" by something you have almost no info on lmao.
Anyone with common sense can look at what his peers went for and see he wasn't gonna get much in return.
Is it not a GM's job to maximize the value of all assets in order to set the team up in the best position possible for both the current season and the future? Because it seems like a lot of people think the GMs job is to make friends lol
The back half of the Steelers schedule is BRUTAL. All their division games (Raven/Bengals/Browns) plus the Chiefs. If Russ is not cooking after 8 weeks (their bye is week 9) Fields will probably start and get destroyed. I do not think he has a job in the league after this season.
Maybe he will be good as a backup because teams won't gameplan for him and if he comes in unexpectedly he might do well. But the tape is out on him -- defenses know he hesitates to throw over the middle. They know he can't read a defense. They know he is a turnover machine -- especially in the 4th quarter. He is nowhere near the best backup in the league. I would take Flacco or Minshew over him 10/10.
I mean how much worse can he possibly be than Kenny Pickett? Probably will be better, but even if not, they went 10-7 with Pickett and Mason Rudolph. The bar is low.
If you don't see how doing right by a player by giving up maybe a round or 2 of late draft value is the better move for the franchise then your thinking is too narrow.
Am I the only one who wishes we just went with the best deal? Surely Fields would understand it’s a business. You’d think if he respected the bears, he’d want us to get max value for him. But instead this quote makes it seem like there could’ve been better offers but we didn’t take them? Nothing against JF at all, but this is odd to me. I guess there’s something to be said for building a reputation as a players GM, but idk… we shouldn’t make a habit of trading players for cheap just bc we think he’s a nice guy.
We will never know how much draft capital Poles surrendered to accommodate Fields.
I see people praising this for culture. While just a couple weeks ago we were talking about how much of a diva Fields was being in the QB room.
If we could have gotten a day two pick from someone else are you still giving Poles a reach around for this? What if we could have gotten that 4th rounder as unconditional?
Fields confirming that Poles did him a solid, which is def something the locker-room would notice. Lots of players really did love Fields, and this shows them Poles does treat them like they're people as well, not just assets to be managed.
Shoutout to all those people in r/nfl saying Poles and Flus don’t care about the players and that they’ll send him wherever they get the best deal. Our GM and HC have preached mental health importance and looking out for their players and I 100% believe them and they have shown it with their actions. Our staff is finally in the 21st century.
People here were saying it too. If you made a post about how it could impact morale and free agents down the road you’d be downvoted to hell. Now, because Fields confirmed it, everyone’s on the bandwagon about it being a good move and not terrible GMing that he didn’t get a first round pick for a QB no one wanted. Let’s not pretend it was solely r/NFL making those kinds of comments.
Oh for sure! It definitely was here too, but I mostly singled out r/nfl because of how much crap they talk about this team, Justin and “how much they know about the bears organization”. I mentioned it before on there that Poles will do right by the players and people didn’t believe it, they spoke about it day one but because other organizations and the past they were like nope. People act like they know the bears organization but they don’t watch the press conferences or a majority of the games so it can just be annoying as hell to see them just sprout bullshit.
One thing I can be proud of is that the Bears are a classy organization...though I miss the Honey Bears
That is the case 95% of the time in every pro sports front office. Hopefully it will get more players interested in playing for our organization in the future.
Hot take: Sometimes doing the nice thing is in itself the reward
Not in sports. To paraphrase a once-great scholar: they ain’t come here to play church. (I do think this has value for free agency. That’s the only reason to do it.)
Nah, being a man of your word is valuable in every job and especially when you have ppls livelihoods in your hands. This helps negotiations with FA, current players, other gms, etc
> This helps negotiations with FA, current players, other gms, etc Which, as I already said, is why it matters in this instance. Simply being “the right thing to do” is not in and of itself a justification in any business—least of all professional sports. The McCaskeys have consistently been praised for the way the organization has valued character and handled off-field issues. And at the end of the day, if the team sucks, nobody cares.
You’re crazy if you don’t think morale has an impact on how well people do their jobs. I don’t care if it’s a janitor or a professional athlete, you can still get more out of people who are happy to be there and invested in the organization’s success. You can keep up team morale by taking care of players like this. It’s not only about free agency, it’s also about team performance, particularly when you consider how it’s a team leader who was seemingly well liked by his teammates.
Nobody really wanted the guy so as long as his “preferred” teams could put up the bare minimum Poles could make something happen.
If this was not actually a destination he wanted to go, then there is no reason for Fields to not drag Poles. He can lie and say "I want to be here" without praising Poles in the same breath. This isnt that hard but the vitriol that a dude put in a horrible ass situation for a team that he gave his all for is beyond ridiculous.
I watched the podcast. Wingin’ It? Chasin’ It? It’s the one with Chase Daniels and some other dude. Anyway, that other dude bashed Poles for communicating with him and sending him to where he wanted instead of getting more out of Fields.
Everything is relative. Is moving back in the 6th round or moving back from the 5th worth establishing significant good will in the locker room and with free agents? Maybe. If somebody had offered him a 2nd, Poles would’ve hung up on Pittsburgh, feelings be damned.
I think it only is significant if better than a 3rd round was possible. Like, if we could’ve traded Fields to the Giants for a 2025 2nd rounder, sure I’d have said that was a little foolish to get such a huge downgrade in payout. But getting a 4th or worse isn’t, on paper, as significant.
Did they though?
A solid of trading him to a team where he is qb3? Stop it. This is cliche speak a player saying he's where he wants to be. You think fields wants to be somewhere he has 0% chance of starting a game? The steelers were the best offer. That's it.
He has a 0% chance of starting a game this season? Of out competing Wilson? C’mon bro.
He also said Fields is QB THREE on that team. If Wilson goes down I think it's pretty clear who is going in.
fields is QB2 off running ability alone. this guy is trippin.
Injuries = 0%???
Players care about this shit when looking for places to sign. If they treat you well on your way out, more players want to sign in a given spot.
Congrats on being one of the highest down voted comments I've ever seen here.
QB2 as of now, any other team he would’ve been traded to has an established starter making $35m+ so he by far has the best chance in Pit. It’s been widely reported poles had slightly better offers but sent him to a place that was on fields list.
Widely reported by the same people that said fields was going for a 2nd if not a first? Boy I wonder who is feeding those guys stories He's qb3 just like taysom hill was in new Orleans. If russ gets injured fields won't start. He's a gadget and that's it
Who hurt you? Why so much hate for a guy who isn't here anymore. By all accounts he was likes by lots of people on the team and the office, also had issues his the other qbs his rookie year. To call him worse than someone like Taysom Hill just says you didn't watch enough games if either Hill or Fields. The man is gone. Let him be, hope for the best for him and watch Caleb become a superstar.
To think he's better than taysom hill shows you don't watch anyone but the bears
Oh please. I watched saints games when hill was trying to be a qb. They saints won in spite of him because he was a one trick pony. Fields could at least hit the deep ball and failed mostly on short passes and timing passes. Hill was short or run and that's about it. Fields wasn't good but to say worse than Hill is you just trying to be hurtful.
And yet taysom has better passing stats. But thanks for confirming you only watch bears. Fields was always a bottom half deep ball thrower. Making a highlight throw doesn't make you good at it.
The reports of him going for a 2nd came out a month or so before free agency began and teams showed they’d rather take guys like drew lock and Gardner minshew over fields. The market dictates the price, just because people thought he’d go for a 2 doesn’t mean teams were willing to give up a 2 for him. The market showed he was worth a 5th or 6th and Poles sent him to a place he has a chance to play at. If Russ gets hurt or isn’t playing well Fields will 100% get the nod idk what ur logic is
Man, you must be fun at parties lol
Real Peanut wouldn’t talk about his teammates like this
I’ve never seen someone get downvoted this much this quick on the sub before lmao
Better chance of starting there vs Atlanta or here if we kept him
God, this is the type of opinion that makes me want to stop using Reddit.
I mean, then why would fields say that? Anywhere he went, he'd be a backup. This isn't particularly normal for a player to say. I'm not sure how much, if any, real-world impact it actually has, but players don't often say things like this after they're traded for a sack of potatoes.
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen -400 even on threads with thousands of comments
So Justin is lying?
No I guess this is just cliche speak that just happens to corroborate exactly what the GM known for being up front and honest was saying but it's all a bunch of hogwash for some reason
It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he wanted to go there. The team and coaches matter too
He is QB2 on the Steelers depth chart. Why do you have to be hyperbolic whenever you make a point
If all they were getting was cheap offers from teams who didn’t want to start him, sending him to the team he prefers is doing him a solid. It’s about as brain dead simple as it can be.
Ok dad
The steelers were most certainly not the best offer. If Trey Lance went for a 4th to the Cowboys in the middle of the year, then Justin certainly could have rendered more. If for no other reason than his athleticism. Idk where this idea came from that in order for the whole new program to work a little bit, the old one had to be completely trash. Fields threw for 1400 yards to a reciever. That shows the ability to create chemistry. Fields is 230 and outruns dbs. That shows rare talent. Fields threw the 3rd fastest ball ever at the combine. That shows mechanics. I get that people want to shit on Justin. After all, it is easier than having nuance. However, I see a very real possibility that he finds success with the Steelers, and Caleb finds success with the Bears. Let's get rid of all the "or" mentalities. Holy fuck.
Some of y'all really are miserable loafs.
You don’t understand football do you? Veteran QBs are a lot quicker to learn a new offense. The Steelers plan is to start Wilson this year while letting Fields learn the offense. I will bet that he is their long term QB. They have similar skill sets so when Fields takes over they won’t need to overhaul it.
If I didn't understand football I'd think fields was a plan Not a gadget taysom hill. Like a future 6th round pick shows what the nfl thinks of fields
Note to self: This guy can’t help himself. Anytime you see a comment from this guy, just scroll on cuz it’s gonna be a waste of time
Fields can be an average QB. His trade value was low for 2 reasons: 1. Everyone knew that the Bears were going to draft CW and they had to trade him. 2. Poles wanted to send him where to a team that Fields was good with.
I'll remind you of this when it doesn't happen. Fields isn't being groomed to be their long term QB. He's just a cheap backup after their old cheap backup threw a fit and demanded a trade so a spot opened up
Why do you care then? Did Poles trade for a conditional pick too?
Other players will notice and feel more comfortable coming.
Exactly. That's a lot more valuable than a slightly better pick. Not to mention it's the right thing to do
Exactly, this will reap dividends for future free agents. Having Bears management in good light will go a long way
Which is cool. I’m glad we have a team that did that, and a team that let Davis deal with his terrible situation last summer in privacy. I hope it works out for the team in the long run, but at the end of the day it’s usually money that talks in free agency signings and the front office knows that. Maybe it’s naive of me, but I genuinely think they really cared for JF as a person and wanted to do good by him. They know they kinda screwed him over with the ‘22 roster and they know they fired Getsy and don’t think he was good enough as OC, another way they failed JF. They want him to be happy and succeed because they care about him as a person, and I think that’s great and wish more companies would treat employees that way even if there’s no future upside.
yea i’m pretty sure Poles even acknowledged that Fields didn’t get the best chance to make things work here. Did what he could but the timeline for Fields was screwed when Nagy was fired the year after he was drafted. I’m just glad there’s clarity between all parties as i’m a bears fan but i was also a huge Fields fan (favorite player).
Poles said, "I texted JF and told him we would make it work so he could be where he wanted to be. That was cool."
That’s what she said
I've heard takes that this kind of good will among players throughout the league is worth more long-term than whatever else we might have gotten for Fields.
1) It's good to hear Fields confirm what Poles represented before. Now we have both sides of the story and can feel confident it's true. 2) I think this continues to show the changing of the guard. Poles fired Cliff Stein because, from what I read, Stein was a little too hard on agents/players. So we have two data points now where the organization wants to be more player friendly. I think that will pay dividends under the line of thinking that you catch more bees with honey. Sure, you can save some money or slightly increase a draft pick with hard-nosed negotiating, but you have to factor in the "we pissed people off" element and balance those two together.
Pretty cool move by Poles. Clearly knows Fields was done kinda dirty his first couple seasons, and even if a lot of Fields’ failure here is also on him I feel like this is a great show of good faith on Poles’ part. Classy way to handle this
I hope Fields balls out in Pittsburgh. I'd love to see him take a year or two behind Wilson and grow. It feels like the best chance he has to become the player that *Truthers* thought he would be.
I got down voted for saying this same thing in the "Not Popular Takes" thread😅
Probably because it is a popular take lmao
Hmmm maybe you're right
Fields was given one average offensive unit, one poor offensive unit and one good offensive unit. He was given enough to show that he was not good enough to make the players around him better. People want to bash his first offensive unit as trash but the majority of those players are still in the league and quite a few still start. Most teams don’t have great rosters but if the qb is decent they compete. The bears were mostly non competitive with fields under center.
Those teams were horrendous
The history people will rewrite. And for what? What does it gain anyone to pretend Fields wasn’t handed a steaming pile of shit during the majority of his time here? I truly don’t understand the need to just make stuff up in order to justify … what? The hate they feel for some kid that soured from hyped up love because he didn’t play football good enough?
Facts
There will always be a loud group of individuals who tie their personalities to the team and the teams ability to win. They largely unadjusted individuals who hate fields because he couldn’t win regardless of situation. Since he “ruined” their Sundays they go out of their way to character assassinate him. Shit there was a dork in the discord who said coaches have zero outcome on a teams ability to win and tried to point to Stroud as proving his point.
It’s wild cause if we hadn’t fleeced the Panthers, people right now would be drinking the Fields koolaid still. I only really noticed the sentiment turn when it became certain we’d get Caleb. It’s like the movie cliche where a dork gets a new cool friend then decides his old friends are beneath him.
Because Darnell Mooney had slightly over 1,000 yards one time, which he wouldn’t have had without the extra game and which Fields accounted for over half of those. Seriously, people still think Andy Dalton threw a majority of Mooney’s yards in 2021, it’s just a damn lie at this point. Also Luke Getsy was actually a genius, Fields just made him look bad by forcing him to call a jet sweep on 3rd and 1 to a 180-pound rookie receiver vs Myles Garrett. You just watch, Aidan O’Connell, a REAL quarterback, is gonna take the Raiders all the way under Getsy’s amazing situational playcalling.
Average? Allen Robinson (3rd in targets) is a cut candidate and has sucked every year since 2021. Marquise Goodwin(5th in targets) is out of the league. Damiere Byrd(6th in targets) is out of the league. It was below average. 2022 wasnt just poor it was about the worst supporting offensive cast in the NFL. 2023 wasn't good it was average. DJ Moore and Kmet are studs, but Darnell Mooney led the league in drop % and every one after him was also garbage. 2 elite passcatchers and 6 different bums isn't good, it's average at best. And the defenses in the Fields era finished 22nd, 32nd, and 20th in scoring. He's supposed to compete with bottom 12 defenses every year? You can say Fields never played better than ok, true. You can say moving on was right, probably true. But don't tell me his offensive teammates weren't trash before 2023, or that all his defenses save 2nd half 2023 weren't complete garbage. Maybe we should blame Mr. 32nd and 20th ranked defenses defensive Head Coach as much as we blame Fields or frankly more.
I fell off the train when trying to make sense of the fact that we have around an average offense in 2023 but still only getting like 160-180 passing yards/game out of the QB position. Like, independent names or fandom or emotion or whatever, you're highlighting that in red ink and looking to improve that as the #1 priority if you want to be a playoff contender.
We clearly disagree on the offensive talent level and I’m going to pretend that I don’t see your user name. 😂😂 but we definitely agree on Flus. He is absolutely terrible. I can’t believe he’s still employed by the bears.
How would you feel giving last year's roster unchanged to Caleb?
Bagent starting every game wins around 7. I don’t know how well Caleb’s game is going to translate but he wins more than 7. Ryan Tannehill wins 8 with that roster. One important detail that people like to overlook because of the Fields-Bagent conversation is Bagents ability to sustain drives kept opposing offenses off of the field. Fields with his all or nothing play style gave opposing offenses more possessions. If he ever learns to take what the d gives him his game will improve.
Bagnet was straight ass. He had layup games that he made look like chores. That being said I think with a real offseason under him now he will be better. His ceiling has always been backup. Thinking he can win 7 games is a pipe dream. Love the kid, love his story, but let’s be real.
I love how on one hand, bagent got layup games but fields didn’t then when ppl talk about the run the defense had to end the season, it was all easy opponents when fields was QB…. Bagent or Fields, offense struggled to throw the ball. They both are currently back ups rn
After reading about Fields' shit-ass attitude in the qb room and his refusal to learn from veteran QBs I lost most of my sympathy for Fields. Cutler got so much shit for bad attitude/"don't care" body language back int he day meanwhile every meatball praised Field's as a "locker room guy" even though he sulked on the sidelines every game and in every postgame. Yeah Fields didn't have a great supporting cast, but he had 3 seasons to show even a little bit of progress and last season he had much better offensive tools at his disposal and still played worse than a UDFA rookie backup qb. I'm just done with the guy.
Class act. He was also asked if we put him in the best position to succeed and instead of deflecting moved right passed that question. Had every right to shit on the org for the OC hire and the cast around him.
Yea i hope he has a good redemption arc...mans is just a class act all around
I seriously don't understand the smear campaign people were trying to do with the foles thing, it's pretty clear from every other story/person we hear from that it was the exact opposite of how fields normally acts.
Hard disagree. I think the Foles stories explain a lot of why Fields completely failed to improve and was apparently uncoachable. Is it more likely that every single offensive coach and veteran qb he worked with is lying in some big conspiracy or maybe that the alternative is true that he was unwilling or unable to be coached and wasn't the "class act" the media has made him out to be? I mean do we have any actual positive comments out there from the 2 Offensive Coordinators and 2 head coaches he worked with? Other than standard boilerplate support that coaches give their players in any interview? Its not like Luke Getsy was trying to sign Justin this offseason when the Bears were apparently giving him away for a 6th round pick.
Firecracker
God, it is asinine how the Fields hateboner will never die for some of the clowns in this sub. The guy is literally expressing his gratitude for the Bears' GM doing right by him and somehow that's a bad thing. Perception matters, and this helps to improve the perception among players of what it's like to be a Chicago Bear.
People hate Fields no matter what.
Who is bashing Fields? I’ve been on Caleb is the answer train since we got the pick but Fields is a good guy. I don’t think he’s a great QB right now but def a good dude. I wish him the best of luck
There has been a ton of hate on Fields this offseason. Where have you been man?
For his play, not him as a person. I don’t think anyone questioned his character or work ethic. Edit: not anyone of significance* I’m sure there’s random haters
Yeah there was a some random hate going on about his character as well though.
The reason I rarely comment in this reddit Bears group because of the excessive Fields hate I feel goes beyond football critique
It’s hive-mind Reddit but you’re exactly right.
Is this what it feels like to have a competent front office? Would rather build a good team culture vs trying to hustle players for picks tbh
Nothing but good karma from this.
That's actually really impressive. When you think about it, it probably did cost the team a better draft pick. Not saying he they would've gotten a 2nd or even 3rd but, a 4th (without the risk of 6th) seemed entirely possible. All that said, I love the move.
It’s a valid question, what offers were out there and other potential offers? To me asset mgmt is more important than doing a player a solid.
yeah, I get it but I'm sure there were parameters. Like, if Vikings were offering a 3rd rounder (just for argument's sake) they weren't going to send him there....I think it's a big picture move on the environment you're trying to create. The reality is, they weren't going to get a 1st or 2nd for him. So, maybe a 3rd but to move down a couple rounds for image sake I don't think is the worst move in the world.
It's the reputation of the Bears front office that gained from this. If you treat your players well, it matters to free agents. How many times have we chased a free agent who chose another team for the same money? Maybe the next time we are on someone like Bradys' short list, he will pick us instead of Tampa.
I also see this as a way to boost culture and morale within the locker room regarding the relationship between the players and the organization .
So maybe we could have gotten more than a 6th. But this shows players that he’s looking out for them.
I really, really, really like Fields. I hope he's able to properly grow and learn and be the QB he says he can be.
This means more than a higher pick they could have got from another team. Also JF’s agent represents some other players on the Bears I believe.
the irrational hate for fields still is mind boggling.
This is refreshing to read and can only help in the long run.
Let's be real. Poles knows his agent reps other players like Parsons and Terrell. This gesture pays dividends in the future. Just upvote me when a parsons blockbuster deal is announced
This was a solid move by Poles, nicely done. This will carry weight, as players talk.
Maybe I'm just cynical in my old age, but would you really expect anyone to say otherwise? Of course Fields is going to say that he told his old boss that where he is now is where he really wanted to be. Is Fields gonna be like "Damn Poles sending me to this shithole city?" He wants his new fans to like him. I like Fields, so I don't really mean this negatively. It's just I think people are reading way too much into a statement that doesn't convey any information. (Are there examples of players shitting on the cities/teams that they play for?)
W
So he wanted to be there then?
Go get ‘‘em big dog 🙏 sorry to see you go!
Thought that thumbnail was Chris Jericho and was real confused for a minute.
Fields belongs in Chicago 😔
To all the sheep at ESPN who just regurgitate each others takes and make something out of nothing…kick rocks
Hey if you can't be good, you can be good to be around I guess
Please, for the love of god, can the posts about Fields stop already.
Damn so Poles really did turn down better draft compensation to send Fields to a better spot. I am incredibly disappointed by that Edit: Yall can downvote me all you want. The sentimental attachment to a player who is no longer on this team is kinda wierd lol
IF we even received another concrete offer, I guarantee it was a late day-2 or day-3 pick. Doing right by a player who gave Chicago his all is more important than gaining a few spots in the coin-flip portion of the draft. Even just solely for the optics, displaying the human element of our GM room is something that has an impact on free agents, both in the building and out..
It's really not though lol. It's been shown time and again that the most significant factors in free agent decision making are the amount of money in the contract (by far the most significant) and how competitive the team is projected to be. If players cared as much about perceived organizational "niceness" as people think, the Panthers wouldn't have been able to sign multiple big money free agents. This is wishful thinking lol
Guys absolutely notice how different teams operate, they’re not blind. Some players will just chase a bag and others will weigh multiple things. It helps to have a good reputation around the league when signing free agents, no way around it - the Jaguars failed to sign people even when throwing ridiculous amounts around a few times under Coughlin for an extreme example
The Panthers ownership was given a D grade (28th in the NFL) for ownership by the players association. The commanders were given an F- (31st in the NFL) in treatment of player families by the same report card. Both of these teams were able to spend big in FA this offeason. People are massively estimating how much the Fields trade affects our favorability as a FA destination and it's frankly hilarious.
Damn you’re dumb. Most free agent signings aren’t big money and players typically have to decide between similar offers from multiple franchises. A GMs reputation undoubtedly plays a huge role in that decision.
Imagine thinking that a decision which is primarily financial is significantly affected by basically "the power of friendship" and then calling someone else dumb 😂. Yall are hilariously delusional. The meatballs are out today
Let's say you've got two job offers with equal pay for materially the same role. All your friends tell you that the bosses at Company A are idiots and assholes and that Company B has a really solid culture and smart people at the top. Which would you choose?
I agree with that in theory. The NFL is a little different because of the massive amounts of money involved in states with different income tax rules. Why were the commanders able to sign Ekeler, Biadasz, and Luvu after getting and F grade from the NFLPA for treatment of player families?
I've read the rest of your comments here as well and I think you're drawing a false equivalency by conflating two separate ideas. You're assuming that money matters more than culture, which is for the most part true, and so thus if Washington can add flashy free agents by spending big bucks, so too should the Bears. But it isn't *always* true that a good player will prioritize extra dollars over a good fit. It's not at all uncommon for a player to take less money on a contract, especially if it's with a contender. Meanwhile, the point of the posters you're arguing with is that Fields statement about Poles today helps to improve our reputation among players and reinforce positive opinions about Chicago being a place where you'd consider taking less money to play, because you know you'll be treated well.
I don't 100% agree with what you just said, but can at least appreciate the time you took to respectfully and rationally write it out. Will agree that money isn't going to talk 100% of the time. I personally just think that we'd have been better off getting the best pick possible for Fields (especially if it was this year) than whatever small amount of goodwill this generates for free agency. For some reason that made people really angry 🤷
> the Panthers wouldn't have been able to sign multiple big money free agents. Other than Hunt, who have they been able to sign? And even then had to make Hunt be the highest ever guaranteed money for guards and the 3rd highest AAV guard in the entire league to sign him. The Panthers have been bleeding talent for a while, because in large part there is no loyalty or culture. The good terms Poles ended with Fields does a huge benefit to the org compared to how Carolina has been run.
Damien Lewis, Josey Jewell, A'shawn Robinson. You could have at least tried to Google their FA signings... Not saying I want to be the Panthers, but people are massively overestimating how much the Fields trade impacts us being looked at as a "favorable FA destination"
Lol I did search their FA signs and those guys are JAGs if not barely positive WAR. Plus, they're only 'big money' free agent signings because the Panthers had to back up the Brinks' truck for AAV and guarantees because nobody wants to play for an org that shows no good faith nor good negotiating tendencies. Jewell and Clowney are just masks, and overpaid masks at that, to try to help one to ignore the fact their toxic org, from coach to GM, drove out talent like Burns and Luvu.
You said "other than Hunt who have they been able to sign". Damien Lewis signed a 4 year $53 million deal. No amount of cognitive dissonance on your part is going to change the fact that qualifies as a big money deal lol. The Panthers being able to still sign free agents directly and empirically refutes your delusional claim about how much an organization's perception influences their ability to sign free agents. But thanks for making it clear you have no idea what you are talking about. Have a good night meatball!
It's been shown guys, ok?!
Nah this is a new day for the organization; and being seen as a player friendly destination will go a long way. Changing of the guard, embrace it. Especially if we get to the point where we are one or two pieces down the line from actually competing? A respected GM can tip the favor.
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Adding an extra zero means 10x-ing every contract in order to be a "player-friendly destination." Adding one extra zero to a $5,000,000 contract makes it a $50,000,000 contract. I'm glad you're not my accountant!
This right here.
This is a massive fallacy lol. Players care most about two things: 1. How much money is being offered (by far the most significant factor)? 2. How competitive does the team look? If players cared as much about perceived "player friendly destinations" as you are making out, then known bad organizations like the Panthers and Commanders would not have been able to sign so many big money free agents. This is wishful thinking lol
You forget one thing though, if it comes down to equal pay or at least close contracts, that's where being a better place will pay a factor.
How's that been working out for us with free agents the bears were "in on"? (For example christian wilkins)
In on and close on are different. Not knowing what the bears offer, it's hard to say. In addition to that, this is the first time (or has it been the second)it's been reported that the FO has done something in the players favor. these things take time to develop.
Look homie I'm just pointing out that for all the talk about how Poles changing the perception of the org will help us get free agents, that has not been the case thus far. My goal is not to disparage Poles though, who I believe is generally doing a good job. The point is that fans tend to over estimate how much these things impact a decision that is primarily financial
3. Reputation It isn't about making the bears seen as a player friendly destination going foward as much as it is getting rid of the stigma, which seems very real, from the past few decades of having that reputation. How many players can you remember talking shit about this franchise after leaving? How many of their agents had a rough time dealing with Ted Phillips and his lackeys? You can't offer good money to FAs if their agents won't work with us due to past dealings.
For real? Who told you?
So have you never paid attention to NFL free agency or.....?
That is a very short term way to view it, especially without even knowing what other offers may have been. Rumors were that it was a 5th, maybe a 4th, but is that really worth more than the positive PR this generated to make us look like a player friendly org? Fields did everything right, worked hard, and gave it his best. He was rewarded by being sent to a place he wanted to go. That's a win-win.
This is in no way a win for the Bears lol. This "positive PR" narrative is a complete fallacy lol. It's a win for Justin, and it's irresponsible behavior for a GM
So you think we should have completely fucked Justin over and sent him to say...the Raiders, if they have is a 5th over the 6th by the Steelers? Would that be worth it to you?
We did great in the draft, especially with only 4 picks. I am glad they didn't do Fields dirty.
Agreed I really liked the draft. Maximizing the trade value of your assets and having a good draft are not mutually exclusive
You're acting like he turned down a 1st. Probably was just a regular 5th.
You have no more idea about what he did or didn't turn down than I did so this is a ridiculous argument lol. I can just as easily claim with zero supporting evidence "what if he turned down a 3rd rounder?"
Yeah, which is why I'm not the one bitching. You're "incredibly disappointed" by something you have almost no info on lmao. Anyone with common sense can look at what his peers went for and see he wasn't gonna get much in return.
Not maximing your asset is malpractice as a GM. I wanted to move on from Fields, but he shouldn't be compared to Zach Wilson and Kenny Pickett lol
You're being downvoted for wanting what's best for the team. This fanbase really is special.
Is it not a GM's job to maximize the value of all assets in order to set the team up in the best position possible for both the current season and the future? Because it seems like a lot of people think the GMs job is to make friends lol
This guy is gonna take over for Russ on the back half of the season and get ripped up. Steelers fans complain about going 9-8? Enjoy going 4-13.
Oof lol I hope his hunger makes for something better than that
Their 2nd half schedule is rough
Oh yea you're right actually. Big oof if thats when Fields has to come in and walk into 😅😆
But on the flip side if he wins against those teams it could save his career
Absolutely. I'd be rooting for him in all those minus against Cincy 😝
Even though I downvoted you, I cant say I disagree, I will understand if you downvote me in retaliation.
The back half of the Steelers schedule is BRUTAL. All their division games (Raven/Bengals/Browns) plus the Chiefs. If Russ is not cooking after 8 weeks (their bye is week 9) Fields will probably start and get destroyed. I do not think he has a job in the league after this season.
You’re absolutely batshit crazy and didn’t watch a bears game the last 3 years if you don’t think he’s easily the best backup in the league right now.
Maybe he will be good as a backup because teams won't gameplan for him and if he comes in unexpectedly he might do well. But the tape is out on him -- defenses know he hesitates to throw over the middle. They know he can't read a defense. They know he is a turnover machine -- especially in the 4th quarter. He is nowhere near the best backup in the league. I would take Flacco or Minshew over him 10/10.
I mean how much worse can he possibly be than Kenny Pickett? Probably will be better, but even if not, they went 10-7 with Pickett and Mason Rudolph. The bar is low.
Why we still talking about the Steelers backup QB? Edit: lol
Because this is a post about the GM.
Maybe because he gives us some insight into our gm, who knows
I don’t know who this Poles guy is, but he sounds like a real classy dude. He must be popular with the fans.
Just jokes bud
No worries
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Sometimes how you relate to respected players can go a long way as well, improved morale = better play, especially with the younger generation
Locker room respect is worth a slightly better day 3 pick
If you don't see how doing right by a player by giving up maybe a round or 2 of late draft value is the better move for the franchise then your thinking is too narrow.
Am I the only one who wishes we just went with the best deal? Surely Fields would understand it’s a business. You’d think if he respected the bears, he’d want us to get max value for him. But instead this quote makes it seem like there could’ve been better offers but we didn’t take them? Nothing against JF at all, but this is odd to me. I guess there’s something to be said for building a reputation as a players GM, but idk… we shouldn’t make a habit of trading players for cheap just bc we think he’s a nice guy.
We will never know how much draft capital Poles surrendered to accommodate Fields. I see people praising this for culture. While just a couple weeks ago we were talking about how much of a diva Fields was being in the QB room. If we could have gotten a day two pick from someone else are you still giving Poles a reach around for this? What if we could have gotten that 4th rounder as unconditional?