ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is driving the Justin Fields hype train off the tracks in only early May.
Justin Fields could turn out to be a mighty fine player for the Chicago Bears, but let’s slow down a minute on him being an NFL MVP candidate this season, alright.
A lot of people are drinking the Bears’ Kool-Aid this offseason, including ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky. It’s cute, fun and may turn out well for those who imbibe. However, there are so many reasons why I cannot possibly get behind this logic. Fields can be a Pro Bowl-level player this season, but he has to carry the worst team in football from a season ago and have them be more than a playoff team.
Here is Orlovsky carrying Fields’ water out of the back of the end zone on Get Up Monday morning.
Fields plays the right position, but I would bet on Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts winning their first NFL MVP before the Bears starting quarterback does. This is not that hard to figure out.
Dan Orlovsky actually believes Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields can win NFL MVP
Look. This isn’t the first time Orlovsky has had a bad take, and it certainly won’t be the last. He may have a great sense of style and may be able to break down plays better than most, but I’m not going to him for his thoughts on food, vulgar vocabulary and who is winning NFL MVP. Orlovsky said Fields could do it last year… The Bears were beyond hot garbage last season, man.
While I would love nothing more than for my Cobb County compadre to win MVP one day, it’s not happening in 2023. Although Fields has a growing rapport with his up-and-coming offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, Matt Eberflus is still relatively green as a head coach, and don’ event get me started on their general manager Ryan Poles…
Let’s see if the Bears can double their win total first and maybe get to 10 victories in 2024. Even if the Bears go to 11 in two years, that is not MVP worthy. You’ll need to get around 13 or 14 wins.
For Fields to ever win MVP, he needs to play at a top-four level at the position across the entire league and have the Bears be the equivalent of a No. 2 seed in the NFC. Every single team in the NFC was better than them a year ago. Chicago should be better in 2023, mostly because the Bears could not be worse. I wish Poles didn’t punt on drafting a blue-chipper in the first round this year.
Although Fields plays the right position in the right conference to win MVP, he plays for the wrong team in the wrong city. In a league that is incredibly passing centric, Fields plays for a team with a rich defensive history that never sees its quarterbacks throw for 4,000 yards. You have to win and put up numbers. Weather and organizational dysfunction are two issues Chicago can’t overcome.
Ultimately, I wish nothing but the best for Fields. I really hope he achieves all of his greatness in Chicagoland because their fans deserve to see a winner. However, I have reservations about the game slowing down for him. He couldn’t beat out Jake Fromm at Georgia, only to carve up much slower defensive backs in the Big Ten playing for juggernaut Ohio State. He is on the Bears now…
I would love to be proven wrong, but there are a dozen quarterbacks who would win it before him.
