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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields drew support from teammates following a 20-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns that dropped Chicago to 5-9 on the season with a 3% chance to make the playoffs.
Fields completed 19 of 40 passes for 166 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, both of which came on Hail Mary attempts at the end of each half. On the final play of the game, Fields launched a deep ball into the end zone that bounced out of receiver Darnell Mooney‘s grasp to seal the loss for Chicago.
As Mooney answered questions postgame about the Bears’ final play, the fourth-year wide receiver was also asked about his confidence in Fields remaining as Chicago’s quarterback after the 2023 season.
“Justin is the quarterback of the future,” Mooney said. “He’s this franchise’s quarterback. He’s been balling. I don’t understand why it’s any more questions of that. Obviously, we have the first-round pick because of Carolina right now but Justin’s a dog. If he’s not here, he’ll be somewhere else balling. I’m not the guy that makes those decisions, but Justin’s a dog. So, wherever he may be, if it’s not here, somewhere else, he’s still going to ball.”
Chicago is currently in possession of the No. 1 overall pick due to the Carolina Panthers‘ league-worst 2-12 record. The Bears sent the first pick in the 2023 draft to the Panthers last March in exchange for four draft picks (Nos. 9 and 61 in 2023, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick) and wide receiver DJ Moore.
Moore lamented that he had also been asked the same question recently regarding Fields’ future in Chicago given the potential for the Bears to use their high draft capital to draft a rookie quarterback.
“I’m still like, bruh, where are y’all seeing this?” Moore said. “What makes him not the quarterback for the Chicago Bears right now? I get y’all got everybody coming out. What, it’s like two of them [referring to USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye]? I don’t think they’re better than Justin.”
Williams and Maye are listed at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, on ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest rankings.
Since returning from a dislocated thumb in Week 11, Fields has completed 62% of his passes for 775 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The quarterback has repeatedly been asked about the speculation over his future in recent weeks.
“People question a lot of stuff, but that’s not my problem,” Fields said postgame on Sunday. “I just come to work, do my job as best as I can and that’s it.”
One day after the loss at Cleveland, Moore doubled down in his support of Fields during his weekly appearance on 670 AM The Score in Chicago.
“Just being here for the whole season now and part of the offseason, I’ve seen him grow and I can see where he wants to be and where he’s headed towards,” Moore said. “So, I’m like, I don’t really see how they could say that he’s not the quarterback for the Chicago Bears right now. “He’s been doing everything that’s asked of him, keeping us in games and stuff like that. His growth has been phenomenal, I would say. The outside noise, I’ve heard it for two weeks now from the media in the locker room and they’ve got to do it to do it. But at the end of the day, I’m standing by what I said this past weekend.”
Source: www.espn.com