Nobody wants to lean too much into conspiracy theories. Still, it’s hard not to feel like something odd is happening with Justin Fields. The quarterback suffered a dislocated thumb against Minnesota last month. Tests revealed no break—initial projections offered hope that he might be able to return by the game in New Orleans. In fact, there were rumblings that game was the target. Well, the game came and went. Fields didn’t play. So that clearly meant he was getting four extra days to get right for Thursday night at home against the Carolina Panthers. Then the news dropped. Fields was doubtful to play. What made it all the more bizarre was Matt Eberflus.
The Bears head coach was more evasive than usual about the situation. While he said backup Tyson Bagent would start, he also suggested an outside possibility Fields could still play. The only thing he kept saying was that the quarterback wasn’t cleared yet. It was a befuddling two minutes of audio that suggested Eberflus didn’t have a clear answer on what Fields’ status is. Either the thumb was worse than they expected, or something else was going on.
Matt Eberflus may not have a say on if Fields can play.
Rumors on these situations can always be shaky. That said, one source informed SM that Fields still isn’t back because of resistance from GM Ryan Poles. He is delaying the quarterback’s return as long as possible because he wants to make a change at the position. Poles is cognizant of what happened four years ago in 2019. Mitch Trubisky looked like he had lost control of the starting job. Then he won four out of five games down the stretch, playing well against some weak competition. Chicago snuck into the playoffs as a wild card. That saved his job, prompting the Bears to pursue Nick Foles as competition rather than starting over.
Maybe they would’ve drafted Jalen Hurts that subsequent off-season if they’d pulled the plug. Poles doesn’t want to give Fields that opportunity to save himself at the last second. He’s ready to move on. We’ve already heard scattered reports of this for the past month.
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It might explain why Matt Eberflus had no straight answer on what’s going on. Either that or the simpler answer is that the head coach still has no grasp on handling the media. The bottom line is Bagent will start at least one more game, and Fields is running out of time to rescue a sinking ship.
