The Bears’ plan for Justin Fields is starting to pay off, but there are two huge problems holding him back
Justin Fields #JustinFields
All offseason, the discussion surrounding the Bears wasn’t a healthy one. Regarding one specific and crucial player, the questions seemed to build on top of themselves.
Did the new-look Bears do enough to help Justin Fields? Can Justin Fields be special enough to elevate the rebuilding Bears despite an objectively terrible supporting cast? Will leaning on changes in potential quality coaching be enough to get Fields to blossom in his second year?
Now, in-season, the main question has changed: Have the Bears failed Justin Fields?
Five games into the 2022 campaign — with the Bears sitting at 2-3 and Fields learning the ropes of a new offense while showing the occasional flash of brilliance — this conversation still looms large over Chicago’s best player. Especially as it gets set to take on the Commanders (-1) on Thursday Night Football.
That’s because there are still two huge problems when it comes to developing Fields: the Bears’ offensive line and receiving corps.
I was never a fan of the Bears’ conservative approach to developing Fields, just because I think it was asking a lot out of a 23-year-old with less than 20 professional starts to his name. I thought (and still think) new general manager Ryan Poles made a mistake not investing in more weapons for the Bears’ hopeful quarterback of the future. I thought (and still think) he did even worse not to find more competent players up front for one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines. There were plenty of options for help for Fields, including options that wouldn’t have sunk Chicago’s future mandate to clean the slate for a rebuild. Anyone who professed then, or still says otherwise, is hiding their head in the sand at Montrose Beach.
As someone who has followed, written about, and covered the bumbling Bears and all their quarterback follies for a very long time, I’m a firm believer in the egg coming before the chicken. What I mean by that is quarterbacks are as much a product of their situation as they are of their own ability. The stars always have a foundation to work from with their hometown team. Always. For example: Is the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes anywhere close to the world-beater, face-of-the-league he is now if he doesn’t start his career with a Hall of Fame offensive mind (Andy Reid), a probable Hall of Fame tight end (Travis Kelce), and a probable Hall of Fame receiver (Tyreek Hill)? If Mahomes ends up in Chicago instead, we’re likely talking (and laughing) about him as we do about the unfortunate soul who took his place.
And the Bears, even with some of their many, many signal-callers probably not being cut out for the NFL anyway, have seemingly always been determined to throw their most important players under the bus.
In some shape or form over recent years, the Bears did, indeed, fail Mitchell Trubisky. He was polarizing and inconsistent, but they failed Jay Cutler, too. Heck, they even failed Rex Gross … no, sorry, I won’t go that far. But you get the point. I saw Chicago’s listless precedent for quarterback development, and the same bleak writing was on the wall for Fields — inarguably the top individual prospect at football’s premier position in the entire century-plus history of the NFL’s oldest franchise.
However, for all my concerns, I am starting to see the light. As cloudy as it still is, Chicago’s vision for Fields is becoming more apparent.
It’s a one-off performance, and he’ll have to build more consistency out of it, but Fields was the best player on the field in Minnesota last Sunday. He was decisive. He launched deep balls at Darnell Mooney and his other No. 4 and No. 5 receivers around complex coverages. He made timely plays with his legs, even if some of them, unfortunately, didn’t count. Despite the struggles of the supporting cast around him — and despite his team being down a seemingly insurmountable 21-3 at one point — Fields actually resembled a star quarterback rallying the troops.
After his alarming early-season problems, “it” started to click for a player many believe has the potential to be a face of the league in his own right.
The Bears simply had no business coming back against the Vikings, even to make matters somewhat interesting. But a player with Fields’ sheer talent, and his evident growing confidence in offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s scheme, can flip such matchups on their head. If you’re optimistic about the Bears’ future, it should be front and center of your mind how a previously struggling Fields took over a road game down three scores. If you’re the Bears, that’s the kind of performance — even if the box score numbers don’t exactly “pop” off the page (208 yards passing, 47 yards rushing) — you’ll be hoping for the rest of the 2022 campaign.
That said, in the event Fields does start to turn in clutch outing after clutch outing over the next few months, he still needs more help. He still needs more legitimate playmakers outside of Mooney and Some Guys. He still needs an offensive line that doesn’t collapse every other play at the slightest hint of pass-rush pressure. The established great ones — like Mahomes — need other players to lift them up on occasion. No matter how much more comfort and growth he shows in the coming weeks, Fields will be no different.
The Bears can take solace in that they’ve probably found The Answer at quarterback — a gifted player like Fields that can shape an incredible future for them for the next decade or more. But their current long-term plan for him will mean absolutely nothing if Fields doesn’t get more help. And soon.
The pick: Bears 24, Commanders 17
Under the bright home lights, the Bears feel like an easy pick for me over the Commanders, as much as everyone around the league (rightfully) dreads this nationally-televised game. I think Fields lights up a poor Washington pass defense, and the Bears get another hopeful glimpse of what could soon be a fixture in downtown Chicago.
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