Hub Arkush: Bears were never going to sell at deadline, but that’s good for Justin Fields

“I can hear it through like five walls, I think. Everyone’s dancing,” Eddie Jackson said.

“I think everyone is very excited because it was a great game on all phases of the game. The defense played their tails off. The offense is moving the ball and taking really long drives to eat up that clock, and special teams was lights out, too, against a really good unit.”

That was the Bears safety after his team’s 20-11 win over the Las Vegas Raiders just 3 ½ weeks ago moved the Bears to 3-2.

Now, let’s flash forward to interim head coach Chris Tabor after Sunday’s 33-22 loss the San Francisco 49ers, which dropped the Bears to 3-5.

“No, we didn’t get the stops like we needed to. There’s no doubt about that,” Tabor said. “What, did they score seven straight times or something like that? So you can’t argue that fact.

“In that room, I’m still gonna jump in a foxhole with all those guys and we’re gonna work to get better. I know that’s big coach-speak, but we’re a team, we’re a family. We’re hurting right now but we gotta bounce back.”

One day you’re pounding lumps on a Raiders team that currently is the No. 2 Seed in the AFC, three weeks later you’re getting pushed all over the field by a 49ers team on a four-game losing streak.

Three weeks ago, the only interest Bears pundits and fans had in the trade deadline was whether or not the team might add an offensive lineman, receiver or cornerback to make them a legit contender.

Today, those same folks are livid and up in arms because the Bears didn’t sell off half the roster and stockpile a wealth of valuable draft picks.

Is it possible that no matter how hard we try to explain it most still don’t understand how the NFL’s trade deadline really works. We’re talking in practice, not in your dreams.

The simple truth is there were no good deals for the Bears to make.

I know this conflicts with my third-quarter tweet Sunday, a case study why you should never tweet out of emotion.

If the most important goal for the remainder of the season is turning Justin Fields into a winning NFL quarterback, how does the club benefit from moving Allen Robinson, David Montgomery, Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn, Akiem Hicks, Eddie Jackson or others?

Clearly it makes it harder.

If you’re talking about getting picks in the first three rounds it might have been wise to impede his progress a bit for now to reap extra benefits next year.

But that was never going to happen.

What the Bears might have been offered were late Day 2 picks for one or more of those players that offer a very low probability of moving the talent needle on your roster.

Could general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy have been focused on protecting their own jobs?

Sure, but the only way they’re going to keep them is by accelerating the education of Fields and winning some games in the process. How is that not what’s best for Fields?

If you don’t think having a good defense helps a young QB, you really need to find another sport.

Yes, the great ones are judged by how much they can elevate the play of those around them, but first they have to be great.

Fields isn’t, yet, and the best way to get him there is by putting the best players around him to create all the situations he needs to learn from.

How many times have you complained he’s struggling because he didn’t get enough “reps” with the starters in training camp and practices?

It is extremely difficult to understand how the Bears didn’t move either Andy Dalton or Nick Foles for a sixth- or seventh-round pick, which might never help but also couldn’t hurt since they have no use for all three QBs.

Other than that, in a world where they might have netted three, four or five Day 2 picks, or at best fourth rounders, it could have been worth impeding or delaying the pace of Fields’ development.

In the real world, however, that’s now it works in the NFL, and doing nothing may prove to be the best thing they could have done to help Fields now and for the rest of the season.