Quarterback Justin Fields spent his first three NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, and according to a lengthy and detailed exposé from journalist Tyler Dunne, Fields’ tenure in the Windy City was rocky from the get-go.
The Bears drafted Fields 11th overall in 2021. A month earlier, Chicago had signed veteran quarterback Andy Dalton to a $10 million contract, with veteran QB Nick Foles already on the roster.
Then-head coach Matt Nagy’s aim was for Fields to sit behind Dalton that year, but that changed early on when an injury to Dalton essentially pushed Fields into making his first career start in Week 3.
According to Dunne, a former Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Buffalo News reporter who now runs Substack’s Go Long, Fields didn’t mesh well with the two veteran quarterbacks at all that year — and had particular friction with Foles. Per Dunne, the environment in the Bears’ QBs room among the trio was “[expletive] toxic as hell.”
Dunne detailed some eyebrow-raising moments involving Fields, specifically.
Tyler Dunne’s Report Paints Damning Portrait of Bears’ 2021 QBs Room
During the team’s 2021 campaign, Fields started 10 games and appeared in 12, completing 58.9% of his passes for 1,870 yards and throwing 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while also rushing for 420 yards and two TDs.
Fields struggled frequently throughout his rookie year, although he did show flashes of potential in an offense that gave him few playmakers. Sources close to the team that year told Dunne that while Dalton and Foles were amenable to mentoring Fields, the young QB had no interest in being mentored.
“They never were together. It was always Andy and Nick walking side by side and Justin always 15 yards behind them,” a source told Dunne.
This snippet from Dunne’s report is particularly damning:
“There were several arguments amongst the QBs. Once, per one source, Foles was trying to teach something to Fields in the QB room and — upon turning toward the rookie — Foles realized Fields wasn’t even paying attention. His head was down. At that point, Foles was done trying to play mentor. The two could not stand each other.”
This wasn’t the first time someone once connected to the team has made mention of Fields’ friction with Foles. Former Bears director of player personnel Josh Lucas told Windy City Gridiron’s Bill Zimmerman in February 2024 that Fields didn’t mesh well with either Dalton or Foles, which likely explains why neither vet stuck around for long.
Fields’ Leadership Also Called Into Question
Steelers scheme should help. Totally different.
But also from one of Fields’ Chicago coaches:
“Watch his eyes. He tries to see the whole thing and doesn’t see anything. His eyes are all over the place and it’s just really hard to watch. It’s just bad football.”
Both Foles and Dalton left Chicago after the 2021 season, and the Bears brought in a new regime led by general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus.
After two years playing under Poles and Eberflus in 2022 and 2023, the Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, electing to move on by drafting quarterback Caleb Williams. Dunne’s report also shed some light on why the team may have chosen to trade Fields instead of building around him.
“One source plugged into the Bears locker room says the widely held narrative that Fields was a strong leader is inflated, citing the quarterback as ‘a surface level dude’ who didn’t develop authentic relationships with teammates. He called reports that teammates love Fields ‘[expletive]’ adding that the quarterback carried himself with an undeserved aura and lacks emotional intelligence for someone who’s been a quarterback so long,” Dunne wrote.
The Bears are hoping their streak of bad quarterback luck ends with Williams, who had this to say on May 10: “To be a great leader, you gotta learn how to follow first. So right now I’m following all the vets, I’m following all the coaches. I’m listening, having both ears open and my mouth shut.”
We’ll know soon enough whether Williams can start his career off on a better note than Fields did.
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New Details Emerge on ‘Toxic’ Conflict Between Ex-Bears QBs Justin Fields & Nick Foles