BREAKING NEWS: Finally the Steelers steal quarterback Justin Fields from Bears

After a frenzy of activity, the quarterback room for the Steelers is entirely different from what it was last year.
It looks like the Pittsburgh Steelers will start a couple new quarterbacks for the Cincinnati Bengals.

For quarterback Justin Fields, the Steelers have dealt a conditional sixth-round pick to the Chicago Bears, which is subject to change to a fourth-round pick based on playing time. It’s safe to conclude that the Bears lost out on yet another significant scoop for an AFC North team.

Just one day prior, Pittsburgh had traded former first-round quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick, moving up from pick number 120 to pick number 98. The reason for that was the Steelers signing Russell Wilson after the Denver Broncos decided to cut him and absorb a $53 million cap hit so he wouldn’t play for Denver the following season.

The New York Giants received the Bears’ first-round pick, fifth-round selection, and an additional first-round pick the following season as part of a trade-up in the NFL Draft. Over the last two seasons, Fields has a 10-28 record. All of his passing figures were career highs, with the exception of his 16 touchdowns, which is one less than his 2022 total of 17. After surpassing 1,000 running yards in 2022, his rushing stats drastically decreased to just 657 in just two fewer games.

Fields may not have reached his full potential since, while with the Bears, he was a member of some terrible teams. There truly wasn’t a player that would be a mismatch for the defence until the team was able to get DJ Moore as a weapon the previous season. They had serious problems with their offensive line as well, so he was put under a lot of pressure early on.

The fact that the Bears only received this from the Steelers still amazes me. After defrauding Chicago of a second-round pick in order to send Chase Claypool over in the midst of the 2022 season, you would think they would have learned better than to deal with Pittsburgh. He never played a full season with the squad because he was purposefully holding them back.

Although Wilson doesn’t yet appear to be a part of Pittsburgh’s offence, it looks like they will start him next season. The Steelers at least have a younger backup quarterback to use in place of Wilson. They can hope that Fields has some unrealized potential if he doesn’t work out.

Despite making the NFL playoffs the previous season, it appears the Steelers chose to fully revamp their quarterback room as opposed to being in quarterback purgatory. Next season, we’ll have to watch how Fields and Wilson adjust to a new environment.