The Chicago Bears may have found a franchise quarterback in Justin Fields. While the Bears finished the 2022 campaign with the worst record in the league, the season as a whole didn’t feel like an “L” due to the play of their second-year signal-caller.
Fields completed 60.4 percent of his passes for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 15 games played. He made his biggest impact on the ground, as the Ohio State product rushed for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns. It was the second-best rushing season for a quarterback in NFL history behind Lamar Jackson, and he set an NFL record by rushing for 178 yards against the Miami Dolphins in November.
Fields is a rising star. Even his former head coach, Matt Nagy, said this week that Fields will “without a doubt” play in a Super Bowl one day. The Bears now face a pivotal offseason. Armed with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and the most projected cap space in the league, Chicago is poised for a quick turnaround if it can make the correct decisions.
Fields recently spoke with CBS Sports about a variety of different topics, including his impressive rushing campaign, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and what he hopes to improve on moving forward.
CBS Sports: You got an MVP vote at NFL Honors. How did that feel?
Fields: It feels great. It feels great. Hopefully I can get more in these next few years. But it was awesome for sure.
Last season, you took the league by storm with your legs. We knew you were a mobile quarterback, but we didn’t exactly know that you were the second coming of Michael Vick. Did you know that you were capable of creating highlight play after highlight play with your legs like that?
Fields: To be honest with you, no. I think I surprised myself a little bit with some of the plays I made last year. But it was awesome to see. Couldn’t have done it without my coaches and my teammates and of course God. Like you said, we knew that I could run like that, but even myself, I didn’t know that I could run the show like that and create big plays with my legs like that, so it was definitely awesome to see for sure.
What do you think you learned about yourself in your second NFL season?
Fields: Just that there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs and that a lot of games come down to the last possession of the game or one or two plays, so you gotta play every play like it’s going to be the most important play of the game.
It almost seemed like there was a change in offense for the Bears heading into the Patriots matchup in Week 7. You started running the football more and the offense as a whole looked different. Can you speak on that? Did you guys have a moment with the coaching staff where you came together and decided to switch it up?
Fields: No not really. We had a new head coach this year, new offensive coordinator, so they needed time to see what we did well as an offense, you know, what everyone did well, what the offensive line did well, what our receivers did well, what I did well, what our running backs did well. So I think it took them a little bit to get that together, but after it did click, I mean, we went on a four-five-game streak where we were putting up 28-plus points each and every game. Just hope to get that start next year to where we start fast, put up a lot of points and just come up big in those late-game moments.
So your Bears have the No. 1 overall pick. What’s the best course of action? Is there a player you like, or is it smart to trade down. What would general manager Justin Fields do?
Fields: I’ve never been a general manager before, so I’m not sure. But I think there are a lot of great players coming out. I haven’t looked at too much film on them. But I’m just glad that I don’t have to focus on that and don’t have to worry about what we’re going to do with the No. 1 pick. I’m going to leave that up to Ryan Poles, and I believe in him, he’s going to get us in the right position. He knows what we need with our football team.
We have another Ohio State product coming out in this class in C.J. Stroud. You’ve been through this draft process. What advice would you give him?
Fields: Throughout all the interviews and stuff like that, I would just tell him to be himself. Don’t stress too much when it comes to the combine, Pro Day and that these coaches saw him ball out in the playoff game that he was in against probably the best defense college has seen. He definitely did his thing this year, I’m proud of him and I know what kind of person he is. I’ve known him since he was in high school and just his work ethic, how he carries himself, he’s a great guy, a great leader and once he really starts going and … kinda get that confidence up, it’s hard to stop him. So I’m excited for him to see where he goes, for sure.
Ryan Poles has done a tremendous job setting the Bears up to be major players in free agency. Have you had any conversations with him about the plan of attack, or maybe areas of need that you specifically want addressed as the quarterback?
Fields: Not really. We had an exit meeting after the season and he asked me what kind of pocket did I like. Did I like more within the pocket or more depth in the pocket and stuff like that. Just asking me general questions like that to kind of get a better idea of what areas I like, what kind of receivers I like and stuff like that. So it was just mostly general questions.
What are you focused on entering 2023. Is there anything specific you want to show the organization to further your case as an up-and-coming star?
Fields: Yeah, I think I can definitely take a step in the passing game. Especially on those quick throws and those short throws, those skinny throws that I might have lost my mechanics. I was too tired from running the ball or something like that. So really just get my mechanics down at the start of this offseason, and get it down to a point where no matter how tired I am, the ball is going to come out the same, boom, and just get those completions and really stack those and watch my completion percentage shoot up.
Do you have a Super Bowl prediction? Who are you riding with this weekend?
Fields: I think it’s going to be a very close game, but I’m picking the Eagles to win. I think they’re loaded on offense and defense. I think they have a lot of depth on their D-Line, their front seven is great, their offensive line is great. They have two weapons on the outside with A.J. (Brown) and DeVonta (Smith), and I think Jalen (Hurts) is going to have to have a big game. Kansas City, they play a lot of man coverage, they mix it up a pretty good bit with a little bit of Cover 2. So I think it’s going to be a tough game and we’ll see who comes out on top, but I’m picking the Eagles to win.
I saw you partnered with Marriott Bonvoy to style out two Marriott Bonvoy members, tell me a little bit about that.
Fields: I got a chance to style a couple last week for events going on this week. It was three outfits: One of the outfits was airport attire, one for the NFL Honors and the third was the Courtyard house party. It was cool getting to know them. Marriott has been doing these exclusive access to NFL events since 2016. Being with them for the past couple years, it’s been awesome getting to know people, getting to meet new people, talking to them about their favorite NFL teams, favorite NFL moments, stuff like that.
Bears’ Justin Fields discusses No. 1 overall pick in 2023 NFL Draft, electric 2022 campaign, C.J. Stroud, more
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