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Despite both of them attending Ohio State, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Chicago Bears rookie signal-caller Justin Fields don’t really know each other.
Their time in Columbus never overlapped, as Burrow was there from 2015-18 before he transferred to LSU, and Fields showed up the year after, starting for Ryan Day from 2019-20.
This week, their teams collide as Burrow and the Bengals head to Soldier Field to take on the Bears and former Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton — the guy Burrow was drafted to replace. When meeting with the media on September 15, Burrow was asked if he keeps in touch with Dalton, and the second-year QB said this:
“No I really haven’t. I met him in California pre-draft, but other than that haven’t talked to him too much.”
Burrow was also asked about Fields, and he had some strong compliments for the Bears rookie.
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Burrow on Fields: ‘He’s a Lamar Jackson Type Athlete’
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GettyFinalists for the 85th annual Heisman Memorial Trophy were: Quarterback Joe Burrow of the LSU Tigers, quarterback Justin Fields of the Ohio State Buckeyes, quarterback Jalen Hurts of the Oklahoma Sooners and defensive end Chase Young of the Ohio State Buckeyes. This image was taken in 2019.
First, Burrow was asked if his and Fields’ paths ever crossed, and he said he had never met the rookie QB.
“No, I haven’t, I have never met him before,” he said. That’s not entirely true, however. The two did meet back in December of 2019, at the Heisman Trophy presentation. Burrow won the hardware that year, beating the likes of Fields, Chase Young and Jalen Hurts, and they all posed for photos together. It’s likely that’s the only time they met and it slipped Burrow’s mind.
Then, the Bengals QB, who knows a thing or two about mobile quarterbacks, was asked what he thought of Fields based on what he had seen in games, and Burrow gave the Bears rook some big praise.
“He’s going to be an exciting player,” Burrow said. “I think he’s a Lamar Jackson type athlete that can have an impact on the game in that way. The few plays he got on Sunday he was was exciting with the ball in his hand. As he keeps progressing, he’s gonna be fun to watch.”
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Bears Plan to Use Fields Like a ‘Chess Piece’
While fans and analysts everywhere are clamoring for Fields to start over veteran Andy Dalton, that’s not happening. What is happening for Fields is a Taysom Hill-esque role, based on Nagy’s recent comments. The team plans to use Fields as a “chess piece,” moving forward, per insider Adam Hoge of NBC Sports.
Head coach Matt Nagy talked about how the team planned to use the rookie QB moving forward after Fields played five snaps Week 1, and it sounds eerily similar to how New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton utilizes Hill. “Inevitably what it does is it makes when you have a guy like Justin, teams when they see that, now they have to prepare in certain ways for certain things–things they may think of or not think of. It just can help us that way too,” Nagy said on September 16, via Sports Illustrated’s Gene Chamberlain.
“And then for the scheme and for the team, we got to see how it goes, how it works and then how defenses are reacting to it. What’s their plan to it?” Nagy added. “And then we got to have a counter to it.”
It’s unclear how many snaps Fields will get when the Bears face Burrow and company September 18, but one thing is certain: Both young QBs will be among the faces of the NFL for years to come.
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