What NFL Soothsayers See for Bears QB Debate

There's something about the end of one season that triggers an automatic need to predict what's coming in the next season.

It's like action, reaction.

Football web psychics took out their crystal footballs this week, so to speak, and took a look ahead at the 2025 season.

In some cases it was individually focused, and others it was the fortunes of entire teams. In some cases, the Bears came out on the positive end of forecasts for the 2024 season. But not in all cases.

ESPN put together a panel to take a look at several topics regarding the 2024 season and perhaps the most interesting was in the breakout player section. The Bears had two players chosen in last year's draft named as breakout players to watch for in 2024 by their panel of soothsayers.

Both are good choices based on flashes shown throughout their rookie seasons. The first was cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and the other was running back Roschon Johnson.

Former NFL safety Matt Bowen, who is from Chicago, has had a better look at Stevenson then most on the panel put together by ESPN for this project of looking aheada and named the cornerback as his breakout QB.

"He was an easy fit in Matt Eberflus' defense and has the physical play style and ball skills to produce breakout numbers in 2024," Bownen said of Stevenson.

Dan Graziano said right team, wrong side of the ball, and took Johnson.

"He was a part of a three-man running back committee for most of his rookie season, but Bears coaches thought all along he was the back who had the most complete skill set," Graziano wrote, pointing out new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron could make better use of his skills.

The topic of team improvement was addressed in an article by Pro Football Focus' Jim Wyman rating the last place teams' chances to shock everyone and win their division in 2024. The Bears came in the second most likely team among the eight last-place finishers to emerge as division champions. Only Cincinnati was judged to have a better shot at doing this among last-place teams and that's understandable because it almost seems a fluke that the Bengals finished last in the AFC North and now they'll have the benefit of a last-place schedule.

The Bears were judged by Wyman to have the second-best chance at the worst-to-first rise with Williams at QB and with use of the extra pick or picks they'll get from trading Fields, as well as the draft that has them picking twice in the first nine and possessing now almost $55 million in effective cap space.

"With the projected selection of Caleb Williams at quarterback to pair with DJ Moore, Cole Kmet and possibly a high-end rookie pass catcher, the 2024 Bears have the potential to make some noise in what is expected to be a very competitive NFC North," Wyman concluded.

A Bears rise to first wasn't exactly the view by CBS Sports' Jeff Kerr in an article looking at the five NFL teams poised to take major leaps. He had the Bengals as taking a major leap but also had the Texans, Rams, Packers and Colts doing it.

It doesn't seem like a major leap when you've already been in the playoffs, like Houston, Green Bay and the Rams just were. And Cincinnati looked like a possible Super Bowl team for three years, so the same could be same there. The only real surprise in that group would have been Indianapolis, but with QB Anthony Richardson healthy the Colts might have been able to do that last year.

Either way, he didn't foresee this coming for the Bears.

SI.com looked ahead with a bold prediction on every NFL team and Conor Orr made one regarding the Bears draft but not specifically about the eternal Justin Fields-Caleb Williams debate.

Rather than predict one will be traded, he said whatever happens with those two QBs, GM Ryan Poles will find a away to wind up with three first-round picks in the top 20.

"How do the Bears acquire another first-round draft pick?" Orr says, while also praising Poles' ability in the past to maneuver on draft day. "They will either trade Fields and will use the capital from that trade to maneuver, or they will have traded the No. 1 pick, with some additional late-round compensation they can use to bundle for an additional first."

The most opinions expressed on the Bears' QB debate were in the ESPN panel article regarding moves they would like to see this offseason. Panelists Mike Clay and Mike Tannenbaum said that move is the Bears trading Fields to the Falcons.

"Fields, with an abundance of young talent around him on offense, could push the Falcons into the playoffs," Tannenbaum concluded.

Clay said two things had to happen for the Falcons to begin showcasing all of the offensive talent they've drafted and one of those happened with the firing of Arthur Smith.

"The second one will be trickier, but a trade for Fields would go a long way," he wrote.

The move Matt Miller wants to see also involved a Fields trade.

"The Bears trade QB Justin Fields to the Steelers," Miller wrote. "Pittsburgh is desperate for a quarterback, and Fields has the tools to thrive in Arthur Smith's offense."

The last opinion expressed regarding Fields and a trade wasn't sending him anywhere. Instead, ESPN NFL national reporter Lindsey Thirey wants the Bears to trade the first pick to Washington.

"This means Fields would remain in Chicago, while Williams would reunite with new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who served as a Trojans offensive analyst last season," he wrote.

The wildest opinion on anything was probably the one on this topic from ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder.

"The Browns trade for QB Justin Fields," Walder wrote. "This is a wild one, I know."

The Bears wouldn't be getting a first-rounder for Fields in this one because the Browns threw away their first-rounder getting Deshaun Watson out of Houston.

"But trading a second- or third-round pick for Fields is feasible, and I'd like to see Fields in Kevin Stefanski's offense," he wrote. "The alternative is simply hoping that Watson improves and, if not, wasting another year of a talented roster."

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