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Since 2003, the Chicago Bears have selected two quarterbacks in the first round of the NFL draft: North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky at No. 2 overall in 2017 and Ohio State’s Justin Fields at No. 11 in 2021.
After four years in the Windy City, Trubisky made the Pro Bowl after a promising 2018 campaign, but he never elevated the team to the level it hoped he would, and after inadequate seasons in 2019 and 2020, the Bears chose not to re-sign him. He sat behind Josh Allen in Buffalo last year before getting what will likely be his final shot at being a starter with the Pittsburgh Steelers this coming season.
Fields’ future with Chicago is still a question mark. He had a rookie season that managed to be disappointing, yet also filled with potential.
It’s old news to go over the lack of quality QBs the Bears have had in franchise history; Nearly every fan knows the team is the only one out of 32 NFL squads to never have a 4,000-yard passer. Still, one analyst took to Twitter to share a stat that highlights the difficulties both Trubisky and Fields had as rookie QBs for Chicago.
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Trubisky, Fields Share Dubious Year 1 Stat
Minnesota Vikings analyst Dustin Baker of Vikings Territory pointed out the following about the lack of touchdown passes thrown by both QBs during their respective rookie campaigns:
“In the last 35 years, only 2 First-Round QBs have thrown fewer than 8 TDs in their rookie season while starting at least 10 games.”
Sure, there’s something to be said for a Vikings analyst bashing Bears QBs when current Minnesota signal-caller Kirk Cousins has led the team to the playoffs just once in the last four years, but neither Fields nor Trubisky had memorable rookie campaigns in Chicago. Throwing fewer than eight TD passes in 12 games is less than ideal for any quarterback.
Many blame Trubisky’s lack of offensive production during his Bears tenure on ex-coach Matt Nagy — and it’s valid criticism, as Nagy’s offense was never built around Trubisky or his strengths. But Trubisky played under former head coach John Fox as a rookie, and had a notoriously bad cache of weapons at wide receiver that included Kendall Wright, Josh Bellamy and Dontrelle Inman.
Fields had better receivers in Year 1 than Trubisky did, throwing to a group led by Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney and Marquise Goodwin in 2021 — but he also had Nagy handcuffing him.
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Trubisky Isn’t the Playmaker Fields Is
Trubisky had slightly better stats than Fields did as a rookie. Trubisky completed 59.4% of his passes for 2,193 yards, seven TDs and seven interceptions in 12 starts in 2017, adding 248 yards and two TDs on the ground (stats via Pro Football Reference). Fields started 12 games and completed 58.9% of his throws for 1,870 yards, seven TDs and 10 picks. He also rushed for 420 yards and two scores.
The primary difference between the two young QBs, though, is big-play potential.
As a rookie, Trubisky had a rushing grade of 39.4 from Pro Football Focus and a big-time throw percentage of 3.9.
Fields was far more impressive on deep throws, finishing with a 6.1% big-time throw rate, and he ranked No. 1 in the NFL in percentage of passes thrown beyond the first down marker last season (47.4%), via PFF, so it could be argued that Fields has already displayed more big-play potential than Trubisky ever did.
Fields’ rushing grade from PFF (72.3) was also nearly twice as goods as Trubisky’s was in 2017, and in Year 2, Fields will have a new head coach (Matt Eberflus) and a new offensive coordinator (Luke Getsy), so he’ll have a fresh start and a new chance to start changing the narrative.
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