Caleb Harris
With Justin Fields now in Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see if he gets along with Russell Wilson, because it seems like he definitely would NOT get along with anyone else. Super Bowl winning quarterback he once played with.
During their debut season in Chicago, the Bears had three quarterbacks on the roster with Fields, Andy Dalton and former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, who led the Eagles to a 41-33 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. According to for Tyler Dunne from Go Longthe relationship between Fields and the other two quarterbacks was “toxic as hell”, with most of the animosity coming between Fields and Foles.
According to the report, the relationship between Foles and Fields basically hit rock bottom after a situation where Foles was trying to teach Fields something, only to turn around and realize that Fields wasn’t paying attention to anything Foles said. . According to the report, Foles and Fields “couldn’t stand each other.”
While this report came from an anonymous source, it appears to be in line with some information that was shared in February by Josh Lucas, who happens to be the Bears’ former director of player personnel. During an interview with Windy City GridironLucas seemed to admit that Fields didn’t get along with Foles and Dalton.
“We thought having two vets with him would really help him with Andy and Nick and it wasn’t cohesive at all,” Lucas said.
Lucas said Fields was definitely the best QB on the roster in 2021, but the problem with the situation was that the rookie quarterback wasn’t really open to taking any advice from the two veteran quarterbacks.
“The part you don’t like is that there is a teachable moment at every point of practice,” Lucas said. “There are learning moments in the building throughout the day, how you carry yourself as a quarterback. There are learning moments in press conferences. There are learning moments every snap on Sunday. When you have two guys who have won as much as Nick and seen as much as Andy, and you don’t absorb that information, because you’re a little reserved and a little abrasive, you’re wasting that opportunity.”
Based on what Lucas is saying, it sounds like Dalton and Foles were trying to help, but Fields wasn’t open to it.
Although they are no longer teammates, Fields has spoken positively about his relationship with Dalton, so it’s quite possible he simply didn’t get along with Foles for some reason.
“He’s always been great with me. He’s always seen the bigger picture without really understanding the mess,” Fields said of Dalton in February 2023, via BearsWire. “Just the situation we were in, not getting in the way of our relationship. He always remained cordial to me and he was a kind of big brother to me.”
With Fields currently the backup in Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see how he handles working with and possibly learning from Russell Wilson.
