Justin Fields’ social media moves has online detectives trying to figure out what’s next for the Bears quarterback.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Bears general manager Ryan Poles will be at the center of the NFL world one week from Tuesday, holding court — publicly and privately — at the NFL Scouting Combine as he determines what the team will do at quarterback.
That moment can’t come soon enough.
Until then, Internet sleuths will continue to search for clues as to what he plans to do with quarterback Justin Fields. Some were up in arms Tuesday when word spread that Fields didn’t follow the Bears on Instagram. Fields’ profile picture remains a photo of him in a Bears jersey, however. He’s warming up before a game while wearing a Bears headband.
What does it mean? Fields wouldn’t be the first modern athlete to share his feelings through vague social media machinations. But if Fields was annoyed by the Bears, why would he be in full uniform in his profile photo? Why didn’t he scrub out a single Bears photo? About half his posts since being drafted feature him in Bears gear.
Fields follows the Bears on X, the app formerly known as Twitter. He follows teammates on both sites. Not that Fields is particularly active on Instagram or X. He posted on X eight times in 2023. He’s embedded two Instagram posts since the end of the Bears’ season: an ad for Reebok, for which he has an endorsement deal, and for Pup-Peroni dog treats. In a video, Fields feeds Uno, his French bulldog. (Uno doesn’t follow the Bears either).
Read too much into all of it at your risk. And wait for it to pass soon.
Until the Bears make a move at quarterback, all fans are left with is another social media tempest during an offseason in which they’re deeply divided on what the team should do with Fields — and desperate for any scrap of direction given by the team about its intentions.
USC star quarterback Caleb Williams, whom Poles could draft with the first overall pick, grabbed the attention of Bears fans with his own social media post earlier this month. One day after Colin Cowherd said Williams’ camp didn’t want him to go to Chicago — a claim the host rescinded a day later — Williams published a photo of himself as a child wearing a T-shirt with a teddy bear on it.
The Bears, of course, have no obligation to announce their intentions at quarterback — to Fields or Williams, the league or their fans — until Poles knows exactly what he’s going to do.
Poles vowed to vet Williams and other college quarterbacks on and off the field, a process that’s ongoing. The Bears will meet with Williams at the NFL Scouting Combine next week in Indianapolis, where Poles will undoubtedly gauge league-wide trade interest in both Fields and the No. 1 overall pick. It’s more likely he trades the former.
In January, Poles wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of both keeping Fields and drafting a quarterback — though that seems unlikely for myriad reasons. If he decides to trade Fields, teams would likely pay a premium — a second-round pick, perhaps — to add him before the start of free agency in mid-March.
The NFL world is waiting on a Bears decision at quarterback. Poles has other decisions to make, too — he’ll try to negotiate a long-term contract with cornerback Jaylon Johnson before the franchise tag window expires in two weeks.
The business of football is about to begin. And not a moment too soon.