Bear Digest

Could Keeping Both QBs Even Work?

One former coach/ESPN analyst says the Bears can draft Caleb Williams while keeping J
Gene Chamberlain|
Could Keeping Both QBs Even Work?
Could Keeping Both QBs Even Work?

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Chicago Bears

Former Colts center Jeff Saturday hasn't always done the wisest thing, such as thinking he could be head coach of his former team after the firing of Frank Reich.

However, there are plenty of Bears fans who would say he's pretty smart after what he told "Get Up," on ESPN.

Others would say his idea is wasteful and short-sighted.

What Saturday said was something few others think is possible and that's keep Justin fields while also drafting Caleb Williams.

"Yeah, if there's flowers I'd throw them at my own feet right now." Saturday said, when ESPN's Mike Greenberg told him he's saying something few others have said. "But this is 100% what they should do. And listen, I understand what everybody thinks Caleb Williams is. He's the next greatest quarterback. He's C.J. Stroud or he's Patrick Mahomes.

"The reality is it's an inexact science. And if you know what you have in Justin Fields, you know you potentially could have a lame duck coach, if you're the organization and you have watched what happened to Mitchell Trubisky, you have watched what has happened to Justin Fields at this point, why would you go draft the first pick in the draft, throw him into a very similar if not an exact (same) situation and expect a different result when you have a guy in the buidling that you can build around?"

Essentially Saturday is saying what ESPN's Adam Schefter said over the weekend. However Schefter said the Bears had considered it. Saturday is saying they SHOULD do it.

Same Old-Same Old

The definitition of insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and expecting a different result. It's how the Bears tried to develop two QBs. 

They had Trubisky the final year of the John Fox era, fired Fox and hired Matt Nagy, then turned Trubisky over to the new coach with a new offense and he failed. So they got rid of Trubisky, drafted Fields, but didn't like where Nagy was taking the team, fired him and brought in Matt Eberflus while Fields hasn't developed yet. And now they have the first pick in the draft with Eberflus seemingly in a win-or-else year. 

Rince, wash, repeat.

At some point someone needs to break the cycle, and Saturday suggests they do it by taking a Green Bay Packers approach and let Williams come in with someone ahead of him who is the starter so he can watch and learn initially rather than getting tossed immediately into the flames.

"And I'm not saying he (Fields) is Alex Smith, but very similar to the Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes (situation)," Saturday said.

Smith started in 2017 when Mahomes was a Chiefs rookie, then left in free agency and Mahomes took the job in 2018 with only one start to his credit, that coming at the end of his rookie year.

"Allow Caleb Williams to develop, see what the game really is, how good can he be, how good can Fields be," Saturday said. "Maybe his (Fields') trade value goes way up.

"Because the reality is Caleb Williams is not winning a Super Bowl his first year in Chicago. Your team isn't winning it. So why don't you actually take care of Caleb Williams instead of doing the exact same thing you've already done and expect something different."

There's merit to what Saturday said but the situation in Chicago wasn't as simple as drafting Trubisky and making him the starter and drafting Fields to make him the starter.

The Bears tried in both situations to have a bridge quarterback starting while the rookie learned. It wasn't that they weren't willing to try this.

Andy Dalton couldn't stay healthy until halftime of the second game of the Fields era. So in came the rookie and he didn't exactly seize the job but did enough right initially to convince Nagy and the powers above the Bears coach that he should stay on in the position.

In Trubisky's case, they had Mike Glennon and that bridge collapsed rapidly. So Trubisky had to play.

There's nothing to prevent something from happening to Fields the way it did with Dalton, but that's the chance any team takes by drafting a quarterback in Round 1, then putting him in a student role behind a mentor veteran.

There are numerous other aspects to consider, not the least of which is the locker room dynamic with two potential starters, one a fourth-year veteran who has what seems to be the full support of other players in the locker room.

The tough situation would be between Fields and Williams.

Most NFL players are not going to be total jerks toward a rookie who didn't ask to be put into a tough situation but was drafted into it.

Danger exists with the possibility a resentful veteran starter and a rookie who wants to play.

It's On QBs to Make It Work

This can work with the right starter, though. Smith was one of those with the Chiefs. Fields has always been the most respectful and team-oriented player since he came to the Bears so it's difficult to imagine he'd have anamosity toward a rookie.

It would be a little different than the Smith-Mahomes relationship, though. In Smith's case, he had already received bigger contracts and was in Year 13 when Mahomes came into the league and watched for a year. Fields is trying to get to that first huge contract. It's unlikely he'd achieve it in Chicago if he stayed and played in Year 4, unless he fat-out starred and gave the team reason to consider trading Williams, instead, during the next offseason.

The Bears figure to reap a huge salary cap benefit by drafting Williams. He'd be operating on a rookie contract for five years in theory, although if he succeeded he'd get an extension before Year 5.

For Fields to make this worth the Bears' effort to keep him, it would need to be one really totally ridiculous season.

That's an awful big gamble for a team to take when they know they can get the cap space relief, will receive draft picks in exchange for Fields and know that for three years he hasn't reached a level of consistency required of good NFL starters.

It's an idea good in theory from a distance but very risky when all the possibilities are considered under a microscope.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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