When the Chicago Bears hired Luke Getsy away from Green Bay to be their new offensive coordinator, there was plenty of optimism about what it meant for Justin Fields. There was a sense that finally, the team would tailor an offensive scheme around their highly touted first round draft pick in an effort to maximize his skillset.
That enthusiasm was somewhat muted when the team failed to make any “splash” moves in free agency, and the narrative shifted somewhat to “the Chicago Bears don’t believe in Justin Fields.” There were rumors and rumblings throughout the offseason to that effect, but most dismissed them as just that — rumors.
The new regime quickly pledged their support and belief in Fields and the narrative seemed to dissipate. However, it reared its head again recently with a tweet from Benjamin Allbright that the Bears had conversations with the Seattle Seahawks about Russell Wilson, before he was ultimately dealt to the Denver Broncos. However, Allbright reported that the Seahawks didn’t want Fields. If the report is true, and the new regime was looking to move on from Fields before the team even put the pads on this offseason, that would certainly suggest a lack of confidence.
Nevertheless, it was another report that, in isolation, was dismissed.
Do the Chicago Bears trust Justin Fields?
And then the regular season started, and the empirical evidence thus far seems to lend credibility to the earlier reports that were dismissed out of hand.
Game one agains the San Francisco 49ers could easily have been dismissed as an aberration. After all, they were playing in a monsoon, so it wasn’t abnormal at all that they only passed the ball 17 times. Then week two against the Packers saw Fields pass only 11 times. One could argue the flow of the game led them to lean on the run since they were having so much success with it, but that was two games in a row that Fields was limited in opportunities.
Surely in week three against the lowly Houston Texans, Getsy and head coach Matt Eberflus would allow him to open things up and air it out at home, right?
Well . . . about that. Turns out the gameplan for week three looked an awful lot like weeks one and two, with Fields attempting just 17 passes. In this game, there was no natural disaster precluding them from throwing more. In fact, the weather was mild, and the conditions, along with how the game was unfolding on the field, were conducive to throwing the ball. And yet they didn’t. Not only did they not open up the passing game to complement their effective running game, but they seemed intent on protecting Fields from himself. In a one score game, on three separate occasions, the Bears ran the ball on 3rd and 6, 3rd and 10, and 3rd and 17.
If you are not willing to allow your second year quarterback to throw the ball in situations like this, how can you expect him to get the experience he needs to develop? Which, isn’t that what this year really is about — the development of Justin Fields?
Fields is learning a brand new offense with only 15 NFL starts under his belt. While practice reps and watching film might help, there is no substitute for live game reps. That is the best, and only way, he is truly going to develop. Without giving him those opportunities, the Bears are also limiting their ability to properly evaluate him this season.
This staff would be wise to give Fields an fair shake this season and take the training wheels off. Allow him to make and learn from his mistakes and to get invaluable experience. If they have such little confidence in his abilities that they need to fashion a game plan as if it were tailored for an UDFA QB playing his first game, then why are they trotting him out there every week?
For the record, I personally have the utmost faith in Justin Fields’ abilities and think he’s one of the most physically gifted and talented quarterbacks in the league. But he has a lot he needs to work on and that can only come on the field on Sundays. This staff is doing Fields and the Chicago Bears a disservice if they don’t figure out a way to fully develop those skills this season.
