Chicago Bears: The good and bad from Monday Night Football

Justin Fields was great for the Chicago Bears in Monday’s loss to Pittsburgh.

Chicago, we may finally have a franchise quarterback. I still use “may” because I will be cautiously optimistic until I see Justin Fields either throw for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in a season, hold the Vince Lombardi trophy, win an MVP, or legitimately be named to Pro Bowls.

I have been burned too many times by all the prior Bears’ quarterbacks. However, Fields’ performance felt and looked completely different than any Mitchell Trubisky, Rex Grossman, or Cade McNown’s promising performance.

The rookie followed up his solid performance against San Francisco with an even better game at Heinz Field. He completed 17 of 29 passes for 291 yards with an at-the-time go-ahead touchdown pass.

He did not shy away from crunch time.

"“My mindset was just like, ‘It’s time. We’re here,’” Fields said. “You can either be the guy who always gets put in that position that doesn’t show up. Or you can be that guy who shows up in the big moments. That’s what my mindset was.”"

Down six with 2:52 left, Fields led the Bears on a seven-play, 75-yard drive. He ran for a critical first down and threw a beautiful 39-yard pass to Allan Robinson to set up the Darnell Mooney touchdown.

The only glitch made on that drive was too much time left on the clock for the Steelers. Then again, that is on the defense to make the stop. Great might be over-hyping his performance as it was rough sledding for Fields early going. He threw a pick that was first deflected by Cam Heyward and fell into his hands.

It took the final series of the first half for Fields to get going. Once the young man hit his stride, he was special. He was consistently looking for the big play and making them in the process which is always what you want to see.

He took some big hits though and the referees missed two clear penalties. Fields just popped up and kept balling out. According to Nagy, Fields had a top-three throw of the NFL season.

"“That throw he made to Jimmy Graham, just so we’re real clear, that’s probably a top-three throw in the NFL this season,” Nagy said. “With who he had in his face, the way he threw it, the accuracy, the timing, etc., that’s a special, rare throw. When you see those throws, you get excited.”"

Fields still has room for growth. He ranks 33rd in quarterback rating and is completing 58.6% of his passes. It was his second game in a row that he showed tremendous growth and that is great for the Chicago Bears.