Chicago Bears: It is totally fine to be excited about Justin Fields

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields needs to get better in the passing game. He proved last season that he is one of the best running quarterbacks in the game. As General Manager Ryan Poles pointed out, Justin still has ways to go as a passer if he is to become an MVP quarterback.

He must improve in hitting his check downs. Fields typically tucked the ball and run instead of throwing to his wide-open check-down receiver. Sometimes that decision was correct as he would make a mad dash for the endzone. The majority of the time it resulted in taking unnecessary hits.

In addition, Fields needs improvement at throwing screen passes. He would often chuck the ball into the ground or well behind his receiver, resulting in an incomplete pass.

Justin also must get better at throwing the ball in time and on time. Too many times he was hesitant to throw to a spot and let his receiver make the catch.

He would hold on to the ball too long because he wanted to see his receiver wide open. That mistake would result in getting sacked and taking unnecessary hits.

Justin Fields needs to take big steps for the Chicago Bears in 2023.

That also means he should speed up his processing of what the defense is doing post-snap. He has to just rip the ball and trust his receivers, especially since the talent is much better.

Justin Fields did not provide much insight on if he made those leaps during Saturday’s preseason victory.

The box score says Fields complete all three of his pass attempts for 129 yards and two touchdowns. What the highlights say is on those two touchdowns, Fields threw a couple of simple passes and his teammates did everything else.

That has opened up Fields to be criticized by the NFL traditionalists and Green Bay Packers fans. They think we Chicago Bears fans should still be worried about Justin’s passing game.

Do not let a reporter who thrives on being Debbie Downer or a fan base paranoid their quarterback will underwhelm take away your excitement towards Justin Fields.

You have every right as a Chicago Bears fan to still come away from this game excited about QB1–even if it was a preseason game.

First, on the Khalil Herbert touchdown, Fields made a nice pass to his check down. Justin was flushed out of the pocket and did a nice job of avoiding the rush.

Last season, he probably would have tucked it and run for a short gain or possibly getting sacked. On this play, he hit a layup pass and Herbert turned it into a big play.

Second, D.J. Moore showed why Ryan Poles went out and traded for him in the offseason. He has been an outstanding playmaker in his short career and the weapon Fields has lacked in his first two seasons in Chicago.

Third, on both of those plays, the offensive line showed that if they can get downhill, big plays are going to happen.

Last season the offense was Justin Fields running for his life. This season, the hope is Fields steering a playmaking offense that scores while the offensive line can give him time to sling the ball around.

Also, David Montgomery is not taking a dump-off pass to the house. Khalil Herbert showed why Poles was okay with letting Montgomery walk in free agency.

It is just the first preseason game and it would have been nice to see Fields spread the ball around. He was only slated to play two series anyways so the chances of that happening in this game were slim.

We will need to look to the next preseason game to get a chance to see his progress. Even then it will not matter much because it is an exhibition game.