Last year was probably his worst season yet. He was still a serviceable starter, but not the game wrecker he was in the past. He was coming of a missed season due to injury, so it’s possible he wasn’t fully back. However, it’s also possible he’s falling off a bit due to age. Seemed like an overpay by CHI, but if they are right it could be a good deal.
At a minimum, I’d bet on him being an effective rotational DT for a year or 2.
Chicago fans, thoughts on Fields
was he given a fair chance and failed, or needed better supporting cast?
His stats don’t look that bad
Even at the end there was a significant percentage of fans who were for keeping him because he was still considered an unknown, never really given a real chance because of bad coaching. But most were ready to move on, despite being still considered an unknown. Without a #1 pick, he might still be with the team.
thanks, funny, as that describes Smith, Darnold and Wilson with the Jets
Sounds like the perfect fit then! 
I really liked Fields. It just didn’t feel like he ever progressed. Year 3 Fields felt exactly the same as Year 1 Fields. Could be strictly due to poor coaching, but I feel like Pittsburgh has adequate coaching, and he couldn’t beat out Wilson there, so… We’ll just have to see. Would be awesome to see him find the right situation and thrive.
I think Mike Tomlin put it best when he said Fields had been good but not to be confused with great. Seemed to be the story of his time in Chicago as well. He wasn’t bad just not good enough. He was well liked in Chicago and I hope it works out for him in NY
just realized Fields & Garret Wilson were college team mates, so assume that is a good thing
side note, ESPN had an article ranking QB moves this off season
1 - ex Jet
2 - ex Jet
3 - current Jet
4 - ex Giant
5 - ex Jet
and then another article all about where another ex Jet will land
It worked great for Cutler and Earl Bennett!
This guy is on to something:
Um, Jimmy, you (and your hired hands) seem to do this a lot. Good thing you still make money so your ego isn’t too shattered (looking ahead to that sweet, sweet free stadium in some other town), but you have been the cause of your team sucking. Please make a note of it.
Packers propose rule to ban tush push play popularized by Eagles
If you can’t beat 'em, change the rules!
Vote to take place today at owners’ meeting.
It used to be illegal, but they found it too difficult to judge who was pushing who, so they eventually let it slide. But now that teams (or the Iggles at least) are intentionally designing plays to use this, it’s a bit more clear. At least, in the tush push situations.
Vote was “tabled” for further investigation…might be discussed during the Spring Meeting in May.
They did pass a few changes, including moving up the ball spot on kickoff touchbacks to the 35-yard-line, trying to encourage kickers to drop the ball into the receiving zone rather than the end-zone, thus resulting in more returns.
NFL owners vote to adjust ball spot on touchbacks to 35-yard line on dynamic kickoffs
My opinions:
Fine with banning the tush-push. Teams having to run a QB sneak instead doesn’t really change much. Maybe changes it from a ~95% conversion to an 85-90% conversion rate. Not really that much different than when they moved the PAT back when no one missed.
IMO there are probably better ways to make it more fair.
Make false starts reviewable so when guards move slightly before the snap it’s a penalty (gives a decent benefit to the offense but ref way on the sideline can’t really tell that precisely what moves first)
Enforce or expand the neutral zone. Lot of times guards line up further forward than they should be able to. Refs called it in like one game and then stopped. Sometimes they just let the defense line up in the neutral zone too so their helmets were basically touching at the snap.
Neither of those are going to happen, so banning pushing the QB is fine with me.
Just get rid of the kickoff at this point. Drives use to start at the 20 most times. Now it’s going to be the 30-35. Distance for a TD has been reduced like ~20%. I don’t like that one intermediate pass completion essentially puts a team in FG range.
I’d like the TD or FG making team to have a chance to keep the ball. 4th and 25 from their own 30 or so. Team can go for it or punt.
Details can be debated, but the league should want a team behind 14 or 21 points to be able to catch up. It means that a team UP 14 or 21 points after a TD or FG should also get the chance to bury the opposition.
and sometimes the tackles are way too far off the line. defense maybe can line up one yard opposite the 5 down linemen - even if that’s behind the ball!
Can we award the team kicking off one point if the kicker puts it through the uprights? That would be fun.
it would be. and penalties with the option of enforcement on the kickoff or the PAT would be really interesting decisions too
CHI puts the two (cities of CHI and Arlington Heights) in the cage, let them fight it out.
Let’s see if San Diego and StL join in.
Is it really going to be a fight? The only reason the Bears need to expand their options now is because neither city was willing to give them what they wanted. I’d have thought that if either city was that desperate for a deal now, there’d have been a deal long ago.
Probably not. I think these cities have “hand” in the relationship with The Bears. Maybe when a new and dumber suitor (StL, SD, SanAntone) seeking that status of having an NFL Football Team comes in and starts wooing, maybe. Would be cool if CHI and AH just say, “OK, go.”