NFL Thread 2022-2023

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#463      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Every time there's a bright spark of a running QB in the league, people act like it's some miracle discovery no one's ever done before.

It's been done before. They're always just broken within a couple years.
 
#471      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
Wins aren't as important this season. So long as Fields shows signs of improvement every week, that's what matters.
Did anyone have any doubt that Fields could be a great threat running the ball going into this season? I didn’t and I don’t think many did. The passing game continues to go nowhere. There are many reasons for it, but Fields is part of it.
 
#473      
Did anyone have any doubt that Fields could be a great threat running the ball going into this season? I didn’t and I don’t think many did. The passing game continues to go nowhere. There are many reasons for it, but Fields is part of it.
Sure, he's learning and clearly improving at reading the NFL game, but the issues are the OL and WRs not able to get separation. Those two issues are magnified in the final two minutes when the thread of the run game is all but removed.
 
#475      
1000% agreed on all accounts.

That said, the habits he's developing in terms of always extending plays rather than getting rid of the ball probably won't serve him well in the future, and the history of great running QB's in the NFL is a history of guys who had short careers and were hurt all the time. And Fields in particular, even at OSU, has a way of taking some pretty nasty looking shots in situations where other guys would absorb more glancing contact.

I think two things have changed from where we were a couple months ago.

1. It's a no-brainer now to at least give Fields a chance with a better team around him in 2023. The cost of trying to bring in a starter from elsewhere is too high and would too negatively impact the roster building that's desperately needed elsewhere. There's going to need to be evolution as a passer from Fields for any of it to work in wins and losses terms, but that failure is a 2024 problem at this point.

2. The miserable, cynical slog of this open tanking season is suddenly must-see TV because we have the most fun player to watch in the league. Good news!

What's the Bears-iest outcome? Well, both 1 and 2 would be blown to smithereens by a Week 13 or so ACL tear for Fields. So that's probably what will happen.
Wow the Gritty Curse only took 8 days to be reality....
Why Would You Do That Paramount Network GIF by Yellowstone
 
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