Insider Reveals Stunning Details About Justin Fields' Status In Halas Hall

No player is feeling the pressure more right now than Justin Fields. He had high expectations for himself coming into 2023. The Chicago Bears had worked hard to help him on the offensive side. He has credible weapons and a steady offensive line, at least compared to last season. One would think he'd at least marginally improve as a passer. That hasn't been the case. He's only completing 58% of his passes with three touchdowns and four interceptions. He also has already been sacked 13 times, many of them due to his ongoing tendency to hold the ball.

Outside noise about his future with the team is growing louder. His 5-22 record as a starter isn't helping his case. It's been almost a full year since he won a football game for this team. Nothing about his performance to this point says he is anywhere close to franchise quarterback material. Longtime insider Peter King spoke on Parkins & Spiegel of 670 The Score about the situation. He unloaded a fair of interesting nuggets. The first was that he never, in multiple interviews, got the impression GM Ryan Poles was committed to the quarterback.

"I commend Ryan Poles because in every conversation I had, I had four conversations, never did he say to me, point blank, Justin Fields is our quarterback forever. 'He's got this job. We are committed to Justin Fields forever.' His quotes were on the range of, 'Listen, we love Justin Fields. He is going to have every opportunity to prove he should be the quarterback of the Bears for the next 10 or 15 years.' That was what he said. He never said this job is his forever. He said we are going to give him every opportunity to win this job forever. So when I kept hearing that from him, I thought that was right and that was fair because Ryan Poles did not draft Justin Fields."

This raises the obvious questions.

If Poles was never committed to Fields, why not just take a quarterback in the 1st round last April? There are two answers to that question. One is that Poles wasn't overly impressed with the crop of quarterbacks available. The other is Fields played well enough in 2022 to earn one more year to blossom. It was a logical and sound decision. Obviously, it isn't working out. Now King believes time is running short for Fields. Far shorter than he may realize.

"I think right now that Justin Fields probably has a few weeks. Because if you're the Bears, you're Luke Getsy, you're Matt Eberflus, you're Ryan Poles, you basically say, 'Hey listen, we always knew that the biggest thing about this season is we needed by the end of 2023...we have to know who our quarterback is going to be for 2024. It's either going to be Justin Fields absolutely has won the job...or we got to go draft somebody. Right now, obviously, it looks like they're going to have to draft somebody. But I still think there's time to consider the future at quarterback."

King may know more about Justin Fields than he's letting on.

The man is plugged in across the NFL and has been for years. He's likely hearing things about the situation in Halas Hall that the public doesn't know. In the interests of professional courtesy, he won't divulge full details. However, the fact he openly stated that Fields likely has only a few weeks left to do something is telling. That offers a clear indication that the Bears' brain trust is losing their patience with him. Eberflus and Getsy came in with serious questions about their ability to develop Fields. His regression isn't reflecting well on their coaching ability.

Three or four more rough performances might force their hand. Justin Fields could get benched, forcing them to turn to Nathan Peterman or rookie Tyson Bagent as alternatives. This Sunday could be a pivot point. The Denver Broncos just gave up 70 points last week against Miami. Tua Tagovailoa had over 300 yards and four touchdowns against them despite only throwing 26 passes. If Fields can't produce a decent performance against that defense, then he truly is a lost cause.