Most people agree that Justin Fields had one of his best games in a Bears uniform last Sunday against the Detroit Lions. He accounted for 169 yards through the air and 108 on the ground with one touchdown and no turnovers. He guided Chicago to 26 points and what should’ve been a signature victory. Instead, things once again fell apart in the 4th quarterback, with the Lions scoring twice in the final four minutes to steal the win. Blame for that falls on the shoulders of the defense. However, Luke Getsy had something to say about Fields’ involvement.
In one of the game’s pivotal moments, Fields faced 3rd and 9 with 2:51 left. He attempted a deep shot to rookie receiver Tyler Scott that fell incomplete. Scott appeared to misjudge the ball in the air, slowing down too much so it sailed too far past him. The Bears were forced to punt, and Detroit scored shortly after. Fields’ decision to throw to Scott seemed to irk Getsy. Review of the tape shows he had D.J. Moore wide open underneath for what would’ve been an easy 1st down. Getsy’s frustration stemmed from Fields’ careless choice to target a rookie vs. his best receiver in a decisive moment of the game.
“I think that’s all part of your growth and when you’re going through those types of situations, you always want to factor in who people are, that’s always matchups are always kind of a starting point of our week, when you’re putting your plan together. But the cool part about it was just the way that he processed it, the way he communicated, the way that he talked about why he did what he did and what he saw. — that’s all real growth and stuff like that. And he made a good throw. His feet need to be cleaned up a little bit on that one, in that moment, it kind of felt, the left side that he kind of had to take a little extra hitch, but at the same time, he was seeing everything clearly and made a good throw, too.”
This isn’t an isolated incident for Fields. He does tend to target players in key situations that probably shouldn’t be targeted. Moore has been targeted 30 times on 3rd down this season. He has 18 catches with 16 first down conversions. Scott has been targeted 12 times on 3rd down. He has four catches with four conversions. Of the Bears wide receiving corps this year, Scott has the worst conversion rate on 3rd down on the team. Targeting him at that moment was an unjustified gamble.
There is no denying Fields deserves credit for how he played in that game. However, this is another example in a troubling series of how poorly he seems to handle late-game moments. Most quarterbacks have the common sense to lean on their go-to guys in critical situations like that. Luke Getsy even talked to him about it. The fact that he still hasn’t learned cannot be ignored. He’s still young. There is time. That said, it is just another frustrating part of Fields’ game that doesn’t click.
