The Chicago Bears are now more than a year removed from the Justin Fields era, but they are still catching strays from players about how they handled things.
During May 21’s media availability at OTAs, New York Jets star wide receiver Garrett Wilson was asked what he believes Fields can show as the Jets’ starting quarterback in 2025 that he was not able to show in his previous NFL stops in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
While Wilson — who played at Ohio State with Fields — mostly lauded his quarterback and expressed surprise that a team did not select Fields earlier than No. 11 overall in the 2021 draft, he also took a shot at Fields’ former Bears wide receivers in the process.
“For me, it’s always been like, ‘Man, I’d love to go play with him,'” Wilson said on May 21. “Watching the film, I’ve always watched the Bears. Those first couple years [of Fields’ career], I watched him a lot. And I’m watching it like, ‘I would have got him that.’ You know what I’m saying? So I’ll just say that on it. He trusts me, I trust him.”
Bears Struggled to Provide Justin Fields With Quality Help
By “got him that,” Wilson is clearly talking about seeing Fields throw catchable passes on film that his wide receivers with the Bears failed to secure for one reason or another. That is no surprise, either, given how Fields’ three-year tenure in Chicago unfolded.
The Bears traded a future first-round pick to move up and draft Fields with the No. 11 selection in 2021, starting him in 10 games as a rookie. After his first season, though, Chicago cleaned house in its front office and hired general manager Ryan Poles to fix their mess. Poles quickly went to work on stripping the roster for a thorough rebuild.
As a result, Fields had a bare-bones supporting cast for his first full season as their starting quarterback in 2022. His top three wide receivers at the start of the season were Darnell Mooney, Equanimous St. Brown and Dante Pettis. The Bears also added Chase Claypool at the 2022 trade deadline, but his contributions proved minimal.
Only in 2023 did Fields finally get a true No. 1 wide receiver when the team traded its No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers for a haul that included veteran D.J. Moore. The Bears also tried to improve their offensive line for Fields, using its first-round pick on tackle Darnell Wright; although, they still skimped on O-linemen in free agency.
By the end of Fields’ third year, the Bears had a convoluted picture of what Fields could bring to them long term, in part because of their devotion to rebuilding the roster at his expense. And with the No. 1 pick in hand again, they opted to move on from him and start over with a new quarterback — Caleb Williams — at a better point in the rebuild.
Will Justin Fields Break Out With Jets & Garrett Wilson?
Fortunately for Fields, after trying to start over with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024 and losing his job to Russell Wilson, he may have finally found the fresh start he deserves.
Fields is the unquestioned starting quarterback for the Jets in 2025 after signing a two-year, $40 million deal in free agency and is walking into a situation where he will play behind the most talented offensive line he has had at the NFL level, underscored by the Jets selecting Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou in the first round last month.
Fields will also have a reliable top receiver in Wilson, with whom he has already built a strong connection from their time together with the Buckeyes. The Jets could still stand to add another veteran wide receiver to their offense to play opposite Wilson and add more depth alongside Allen Lazard and Josh Reynolds, but they also have running back Breece Hall and rookie tight end Mason Taylor in the mix to make Fields’ life easier.
The question now is: will it be enough for Fields to have his NFL breakout?
Fields needs to make his own strides beyond what the Jets are offering him, particularly when it comes to his pocket presence and holding onto the ball too long. A stronger line should help him with both of those things, but Fields must also prove to the Jets that he is seeing the field better than he did at times in the past with the Bears and Steelers.
If Fields nails the self-improvement, 2025 could quickly become his year.
