2022 Chicago Bears Quarterbacks: Better, worse, or push when compared to a year ago

We asked the Windy City Gridiron staffers to answer this question for a pre-season roundtable.

Are the Chicago Bears’ 2022 position groups better, worse, or a push from the groups they had for the 2021 season?

We took their answers one position at a time and will roll them out all week long. After checking what we had to say here, let us know your thoughts about the quarterback position in the comment section below.

Better

Aaron Leming: Obviously, we are all in wait and see mode right now, but it’s hard to imagine a worse situation than what Justin Fields saw as a rookie in 2021. The biggest key will be his offensive line but assuming they have a competent offensive coaching staff they should be able to scheme to his strengths much better overall. Trevor Siemian is a fine backup, but much like last year, if Fields goes down, this team will be tough to watch.

ECD: Justin Fields is the undisputed QB1 in Chicago — as it should have been last year. A full year under his belt, and with the Bears adding better backup options to sit behind him, I expect nothing but improvement in 2022.

Peter Borkowski: Justin Fields should show improvement between now having a year of experience under his belt, a (hopefully) improved o-line, and a (hopefully) better offensive system. Trevor Siemian should be about the same caliber of backup as Andy Dalton was last year (funny enough, the two just swapped teams this offseason, with Dalton now on the Saints) but will hopefully play less than Dalton had to. Plus, Nathan Peterman. ‘Nuff said.

Lester Wiltfong: There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Fields will be better than he was a season ago, and while the backup duo of Dalton and Foles is better (on paper) than Siemian and Peterman, I like what Siemian brings to the Bears as the QB2 this season.

Worse

Move along, nothing to see here...

Push

Josh Sunderbruch: Until we see Justin Fields in a live game, we won’t know if this year’s version is any better than last year’s. Even if we assume some level of improvement, it’s hard to think of Trever Siemian as a better QB2 than Andy Dalton.

Jack Salo: It’s good that nobody other than #1 himself has a claim to the starting job in Chicago, but this time last year, there was doubtless optimism about Fields and even some who tricked themselves into optimism about the “bridge quarterback” Andy Dalton. Now, it’s hard to ignore the “Bustin Fields” crowd on social media. Fields flashed all the potential in his rookie year to show he has what it takes, but he still spent way too much time looking like a Bears’ quarterback. Too many interceptions, too few touchdowns, open receivers ignored, and coverage sacks. It’s almost certain he’ll be better this year, but how much better remains to be seen. The rest of the QB room got worse, though, with bad backups.

Sam Householder: The scheme certainly looks better, which will no doubt help, but Siemian is a worse backup than Dalton. Fields might (should) be better, but overall I don’t think it can be definitively said that this room is better.

We put the question on Twitter, and here’s how that poll went.