Justin Fields has transformed in many ways over the past two months. In his past eight games, he's completed 65% of his passes for 1,425 yards, 11 touchdowns, six interceptions, and a respectable 94.6 passer rating. He also rushed for 758 yards and seven touchdowns. There is no denying the second-year quarterback is playing at a borderline elite level for the Chicago Bears. He seems to produce two or three electric plays every week while showcasing his steady progress in learning the position. Everybody agrees he has a bright future if the organization can put better talent around him starting next off-season.
Seeing all this happen must result in some bitter feelings among fans of other teams, especially those that had a chance to draft Fields last year. The New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers took Zach Wilson and Trey Lance ahead of him at #2 and #3 overall. Both have been major disappointments thus far. The Carolina Panthers opted to gamble on Sam Darnold rather than take Fields at #8. However, the biggest shock to many came when the Denver Broncos passed on him at #9.
It didn't make much sense.
QB issues have marred the organization since Peyton Manning retired in 2016. Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch. Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, and Drew Lock all got opportunities and failed. Fields was the exact kind of talent a team could build around. Yet GM George Paton refused to pull the trigger, opting for standout cornerback Patrick Surtain instead. They settled for veteran Teddy Bridgewater as their starting quarterback that year. He was gone after one season. Now, as the Broncos tumble through one of their worst seasons ever, Denver resident Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports laments where it all went wrong.
"Surtain is also a fantastic cornerback on one of the worst teams in football, which has little hope for a quick turnaround.
The Broncos are proving that you can pick a great player in the first round of the draft and still unintentionally set in motion a series of events that wrecks your franchise for years. When the Broncos were up with the ninth pick of the 2021 draft, there were a lot of things swirling around the team. There were reports that the Broncos, in desperate need of a quarterback, were on the verge of an Aaron Rodgers trade. When they went on the clock, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields had slipped to them and that pick seemed like an easy one for the Broncos. But the Broncos had medical concerns about Fields and loved Surtain."
Everybody knows what happened next.
After underachieving in 2021, the Broncos decided to take a big swing at acquiring a star quarterback. They failed to land Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay, so Paton pivoted. He swung a blockbuster deal to acquire former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro Russell Wilson, giving up multiple future 1st round picks to get it done. They even hired offensive-minded Nathaniel Hackett as the new head coach to ensure everything ran through the quarterback. Nobody could've dreamed what would follow. Denver is 32nd in points scored this year. Wilson has eight touchdown passes in 11 games and is having by far the worst season of his career.
Nathaniel Hackett seems certain to be a one-and-done head coach who will go down in Broncos infamy. Russell Wilson has been shockingly bad but has a new five-year, $242 million deal. If he doesn't turn things around it will be a big problem for the Broncos for many years because they can't get out of the contract for a while.
It could have all been avoided.
Paton and the Broncos could have selected Fields to stop the Broncos' post-Peyton Manning quarterback blues, but they went the safe route.
"Were we surprised [Fields] dropped? Maybe a little bit, but we set our board and Surtain was really high on our board," Paton said after the Broncos drafted Surtain.
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson said last year the Broncos "really liked the talent a lot" when it came to Fields but they were concerned about him having been diagnosed with epilepsy. The Broncos didn't want to take that risk.
The strokes of luck to acquire Justin Fields remain crazy.
Think about it. They need two quarterback-desperate teams to commit all-time misevaluations to let him drop out of the top three. Then they needed a team that once employed the best black quarterback of his generation, Cam Newton, in Carolina to pass. They needed Denver to talk themselves out of him out of misguided fear over a medical condition that had never once affected his career up to that point. Last but not least, they needed a GM notorious for never trading down in the Giants' Dave Gettleman to, in fact, trade down from the 11th spot. Everything lined up to make it happen.
That doesn't happen. Not to the Bears. Their history is pockmarked by painful instances of narrowly missing out on future superstar quarterbacks. A coin flip lost them Terry Bradshaw in 1970. A bad miscalculation by GM Jim Finks robbed them of Joe Montana in 1979. Then two meaningless wins at the end of 1997 took them out of the Peyton Manning sweepstakes.
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