The Chicago Bears know their roster isn’t ready to compete for a championship. It may take another two productive off-seasons before they reach that point. However, such things accelerate if the quarterback is good. That is what they’re working to find out with Justin Fields. There were glimpses of brilliance last season from the former 1st round pick. From Week 5 through Week 15, he compiled 2,430 total yards, 20 touchdowns, and only six interceptions. The primary beef people have with him is a huge portion of those yards came on the ground.
Quarterbacks are expected to do most of their damage in the passing game. Rushing highlights are fun but don’t often translate to wins. That was evidenced by Fields’ 3-12 record last season. Of course, the Bears having a bad defense played a big part in that. Still, concerns remain about whether Fields can truly become a capable pocket passer. Former GM Randy Mueller addressed this issue for The Athletic. He believes the Bears quarterback is more than capable of playing the right way and will prove that this season.
“Rather than cite a bunch of statistics, I will only say this: I understand slowing the coverage game down for Fields and making his reads and processing simple, but he has to develop some anticipation, some timing to get the ball out and a feel for operating in the pocket. I think he has this ability from his days at Ohio State. I’m a fan and have studied him, just like other NFL personnel execs. He should be more proficient this year and I believe the Bears’ passing game should move forward with better players surrounding Fields.”
During the last three starts of that season, where he finished the games, Fields was averaging 266 yards passing. It isn’t like he is incapable of putting up respectable numbers. People might underestimate how difficult the offensive scheme change was for him last season. Luke Getsy’s system is completely different in every way from what former head coach Matt Nagy deployed. Combine that with below-average protection and a lacking arsenal of weapons, and it should never have been a surprise last year went as it did.
Things are far more stable now. Justin Fields has a firm grasp of the system. His protection was addressed with veteran guard Nate Davis and 1st round tackle Darnell Wright. The Bears also added two proven pass-catchers in D.J. Moore and Robert Tonyan. This is a much deeper group than last year. If Fields can stay healthy, he should be able to cross the 3,000-yard passing barrier at least. If he can’t, the organization will have a difficult decision to make next off-season.
