Chicago Bears have a feeling on Justin Field’s slow start

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields has proved to be inconsistent through the team’s first two games this season and that has opened the door for speculation regarding what the future holds for Fields as the team’s starting quarterback.

Through the Bears’ first two games this season, Fields has a total of 191 passing yards to go along with 2 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. Fields also has a 53.6 completion percentage this season. There is no doubt that Fields has not been good so far this season.

Fields struggled during the first half of the Bears’ week 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers and while he certainly showed in the second half of the game that he has the potential to be a playmaker at the quarterback position, the struggles returned for the full duration of the Bears’ week 2 game against the Green Bay Packers.

Looking beyond the stats, Field has yet to look comfortable in the Bears offense this season and the current shortcomings in his game were exposed on Sunday night.

Fields missed open reads in the Bears’ loss to the Packers, lacked field awareness when attempting to make plays after leaving the pocket, and held onto the ball too long. If anything, this past Sunday was a step backward for Fields in regard to his development.

The context here is that Fields only has 12 career starts under his belt and this is his first year as the full-time starting quarterback for the Bears. He is not a finished product yet in regards to the type of quarterback he will be at the NFL level.

Furthermore, for the second consecutive season, he is learning a new offense and is playing with a team that has a clear shortcoming of talent at the skilled positions.

With that said, it should come as no surprise that ESPN’s Dan Graziano is hearing that the Bears’ tune on Fields hasn’t changed:

"“Everything I hear about Fields is positive. So I don’t get the sense the reason for the conservative game-planning is about doubting Fields.“"

The Chicago Bears must remain level-headed about their QB Justin Fields.

It is also very important to realize that the Bears are only two games into the 2022-2023 NFL regular season. Given the weather conditions of the Bears’ first game this season and the fact that Fields only passed the ball 11 times in week 2, there is not enough data to make a determination on Fields in any direction.

Fields, barring injury, is going to be the starting quarterback for the Bears for the entire season. The hope is that Fields does not make the same mistake twice.

If the mistakes that were prevalent in Fileds’ performance against the Packers this past Sunday are repeated for multiple games this season, then that will be a concern as it would appear that something is not clicking within his development.

However, If Fields makes a jump from game to game and ultimately, beginning of the season to the end of the season, then there is a reason to be optimistic about the Bears’ quarterback situation as they enter Fields’ third season in the NFL in 2023.