Chicago Bears: Who is to blame for Justin Fields struggling?
By Todd Welter
This is a pivotal season for Chicago Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields.
He established himself as a dynamic playmaker with his running ability. Fields needed to prove this season that he could develop into a competent passer to complement what he can do with his legs.
Justin left a lot of doubt about what will happen this year with his Week 1 performance against the Green Bay Packers.
He completed 24 of 37 pass attempts for 216 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and a lost fumble. Fields was also sacked four times. His counterpart, Jordan Love, outplayed him when it was expected the results would be the opposite.
Fields’ box score shows a quarterback that did not have a bad game. The tape says otherwise.
D.J. Moore was officially targeted just two times. The Packer’s defense did not do a whole lot to remove the team’s No. 1 wide receiver. There were plenty of times Moore was open and either Fields did not see him or chose to go with another option.
If he did, that option was typically a short gain checkdown.
Fields admitted he played too conservative on Sunday.
Bears QB Justin Fields acknowledged that he was, in his words, "too conservative" with taking chances down the field against the Packers in Week 1.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) September 13, 2023
Asked why, Fields shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't know."
Hitting his layup passes was one of the boxes Fields needed to check this year. He crossed that one off the list with his performances that against the Packers along with the Bills and Eagles last season. He still needs to improve in throwing his wide receivers open and understanding what NFL open is.
At Ohio State, he was instructed to throw to his receivers when downfield could see them literally wide open. You can do that in the college game. Not so much in the NFL.
He needs to throw to a spot and let the receiver make a play on it. Maybe he understands that now after watching the tape.
Justin Fields talked to Luke Getsy and Matt Eberflus about feeling like he should have given his WRs more chances to make plays down field.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) September 13, 2023
His assessment of his play?
Fields: "I felt like I was a little bit too conservative at times during the game. Definitely with guys like…
At the same time, we are talking about a quarterback who has started 26 games in the NFL. He got outplayed by a quarterback making his second career start. To be fair, the Packers’ defense is much better than the Chicago Bears.
Fields did make some nice plays. His touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney was impressive. The two times he found Moore was some fine work going through his progressions. He is still very tentative when it comes to letting the ball rip. That is why he is still in the potential stages of being a good passer.
Even Fields cannot answer why he is still only showing flashes as a passer.