Statorama
Footballguy
The Bears version of a trick play is to run the same play twice in a row ("they'll never expect it")
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QB Justin Fields, NYJ (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Faust
- Start date
dschuler
Footballguy
With two first round picks and an 0-2 start, it’s more likely than not his starting days are numbered in Chicago. In week1, the first downfield pass didn’t happen until :50 left in the third quarter. He holds onto the ball way too long, stares down receivers, seem timid to throw. All three rookie QBs starting this year (Young, Stroud, Richardson) look levels more comfortable than Fields and already see the field better.
I'd chalk a lot of this up to Getsy being a horrible OC. Fields should have 10+ runs weekly. If he gets hurt, he gets hurt. Its better to risk injury, than basically handicap your offense trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
Not saying Fields will develop into a great starter if he did those things, but the offense would be a lot better.
candian fantasy guy
Footballguy
That is outstandingly terrible. I did not realize this while watching the game, but OMG the coaching staff are hopefully humiliated by this post.That is really bad play calling... like beyond bad...
Unreal!
Where are the designed runs? What is happening here?
candian fantasy guy
Footballguy
Our offense should look more like the Ravens of old and not this drop back stuff. Very frustrating, especially considering I thought we already knew this!!
barackdhouse
Footballguy
I agree they shouldn't be trying to fit a round peg into a square hole but he needs to learn how to move around in the pocket and when. He looked terrible yesterday.
Banger
Footballguy
It was funny listening to Bucs defenders after the game. They said they knew it was coming because it was the same exact formation as the play before. How do you do that in the NFL? Just because there was a penalty called and you got backed up it’s not like the Bucs didn’t just see that play. They treated it like a do-over
That's some peewee football level play calling
Statorama
Footballguy
If you're ready to kill the Fields experiment, may as well clean the coaching staff house as well. Otherwise they'll draft Caleb and ruin him too.
dschuler
Footballguy
The video I posted showed great coaching, it was an excellent play call. Multiple options wide open, offensive line blocked great. But Fields 100% was to blame. Could the coaching be better? Sure, but most of the blame is on fields. Even in college, he had the same issues as he has now. His sack rate was more than double CJ Stroud in college. If he could ever see the field better and make quicker decisions, he could be elite. How long are the Bears supposed to wait?
Statorama
Footballguy
Thanks for that - I took a look and wow, there were some inexcusable things there.
crushedspirit
Footballguy
Play calling is not Matt Canada level bad, but it's suspect for sure.
Fields is the main reason though. If the guy still can't play from the pocket, it's time to search for another. A one dimensional QB only can get you so far.
Fields is the main reason though. If the guy still can't play from the pocket, it's time to search for another. A one dimensional QB only can get you so far.
hamsterdam
Footballguy
Hopefully the coaches just turn him loose like they did last season, after realizing whatever they were trying to do wasn’t working. At least we’ve seen them do so in the past.
Stat Correction
Footballguy
This is ridiculous. Scrap the offensive mentality going into the season, and let Fields play his game. He is a runner first....and one of the best. If he ain't running, they ain't winning (nor are we FF players that drafted him).
Statorama
Footballguy
I literally just finished watching this and it's great (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDSwzJwiXj8). There's also some Tim Jenkins stuff on YouTube (he talks on the Chicago Sports radio streams a lot) if you want to go down a Justin Fields rabbit hole.
Watching those gives me hope. They look like fixable things (except for the Guard play - good grief)
Justin Fields was supposed to be Bears great hope. Is he already a bust?
Football Court is in session to debate the future of the Bears’ QB.
www.sbnation.com
"According to Sports Information Solutions, when Fields wasn’t under pressure against Green Bay, he went 20-27 for 155 yards and an On-Target passing percentage of 85.2%. There’s a good QB in there, it’s just stuck beneath all the muck that is the Bears offense."
The long and short of it, is Fields has the talent to be successful, but the Bears OC is calling plays similar to what Nathaniel Hackett was doing last year in Denver. It's all deep routes, and screen passes which literally seems like Getsy has no clue what he is doing. The job of the OC is to play to your QB's strengths, and limit their weakness. Whatever it is that they are doing right now isn't working at all. The people quick to jump on Fields are not looking a little deeper. He is actually a very accurate passer, and his strength has always been keeping the play alive and making something out of nothing. They clearly aren't allowing Fields to be himself right now for whatever idiotic reason.
Yea for sure. I did a lot of research on Fields this off-season because he truly does have #1 QB potential in Fantasy Football, and I definitely think he has the tools to be successful. Hopefully they get it going soon, but I doubt it happens this week vs Kansas City.
This video highlights how awful the entire Bears organization has been coached.
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BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Is it time to press the panic button on Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields?
By Sam Monson
Sep 19, 2023
We are getting perilously close to pushing the panic button on Justin Fields as the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears after two weeks into his third NFL season.
The Bears seem intent on never letting us get a completely clean evaluation on Fields, but what we have seen is worrying and, if anything, getting worse rather than better.
COMPLICATING FACTORS
Fields is averaging 6.5 yards per attempt and has more interceptions (three) than touchdowns (two) after two weeks. His average depth of target is just 5.3 yards, the second lowest at the position, and a league-low 22.7% of his passing attempts have traveled beyond the first-down markers. By any objective measure, Fields has looked terrible to start the season as a passer — the biggest area of focus for him and the Bears this season.
But it’s not all him. A Chicago offensive line that was bolstered in the offseason has been poor. The group has earned a 52.8 PFF grade, even as Fields makes it look worse than it actually is with his pocket presence and tendency to hold the ball.
Chicago’s offense came to an epiphany midway through last season that designed runs for Fields were an important foundation of his production, but the team seems to have completely forgotten that information.
Fields recorded 18 rushing yards on designed runs through Week 6 last season, before gaining 55 yards on designed runs against the Patriots and 349 for the remainder of the season.
In two games this season, the Bears have called four designed runs for Fields, one of which was a quarterback sneak. Those plays have gone nowhere, but last season showed what a vital component of the offense they are. Not calling them this year seems like a willful commitment to inefficiency.
To succeed in the NFL, Fields needs to become a better passer, but you don’t need to force him into disadvantageous situations to make him prove he can do that.
Chicago’s receivers, supposed to be vastly improved this year, really haven’t been. D.J. Moore made an impact in Week 2 but was largely shut down in Week 1 by Jaire Alexander.
Chase Claypool’s effort has been so questionable that it became a viral video after Week 1 and he had to apologize to the team, and Darnell Mooney is averaging less than a yard per route run.
Analyzing Fields' play has to be done through the lens of a supporting cast that seems below average at best in both critical areas of the passing game and a coaching staff that seems to be making the same mistakes as they did to start the 2022 campaign.
THE PROBLEMS
With 10 sacks taken in two games this season, Fields is ahead of only rookie C.J. Stroud. Only four of those sacks have actually been charged to Chicago blockers, with Fields either partly or wholly responsible for the others.
Just from TV viewing, some of the sacks he took against Tampa Bay in Week 2 looked horrendous, but it’s difficult without All-22 tape to factor in what was happening with his receivers and the play call itself. Coverage sacks are a very real concept, but somehow these plays looked worse when you factored that element.
Fields took some AWFUL sacks; they looked bad on TV view, but worse on All-22
Fields wasn’t facing suffocating coverage that left him nowhere to go with the football. There was usually at least one receiver open — and not just when the sack arrived, but throughout the play and at the point of his progression (rather than the backside of the play, where Fields never had eyes).
On multiple occasions, Fields is watching the called play develop exactly as it’s drawn up and then … not targeting a receiver.
This kind of internal paralysis is extremely worrying because it means he’s either not reading the play correctly or is and doesn’t trust himself enough to actually put the ball in the air.
What made it worse is that he actually began the game against the Bucs looking much better. His first drive saw him complete two of three attempts for 63 yards, including a third-down conversion. It also featured one of his few designed runs this season (which gained five yards), and he capped it off with a rushing score on a bootleg that he chose to keep rather than pass to an open D.J. Moore in the end zone.
After that, the wheels seemed to fall off. Fields was sacked (not his fault) on the first play of the next drive. On the ensuing third down, he took another sack (definitely his fault) rather than commit to passing the ball either where he locked on with his eyes or by working far enough through his progression to find a wide-open D.J. Moore waving for the football across the middle.
In the first quarter of his two performances this season, Fields has a 78.2 PFF passing grade. That mark drops to 37.5 for the rest of the game, and he hasn’t been able to offset that with enough rushing production the way he did much of last year.
The fact that there is at least a glimmer of an efficient and productive quarterback early in games when everything is scripted shows that there is still something to work with in Fields. It also highlights the concern that as soon as Fields is on his own and has to react to the flow of the game, he seizes up.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If Fields was a rookie, we would be evaluating his tape as evidence of a talented but extremely raw prospect — somebody in need of structure around him and an offense that limits its asks and restricts how much he has to do on any given play. He isn’t a rookie, though, and while his environment has been awful for most of his first two years, it’s very concerning that he is at this level at the start of Year 3 in the league.
Anthony Richardson, the rookie Colts quarterback who attempted just 393 passes in college, already looks significantly less raw as a quarterback — even just a passing quarterback — than Fields.
Even if the Chicago coaches don’t remember, we saw last season that you can craft an offense around Fields that leans on his absurd physical talent and props everything else up to the point of viability. It gives the offense a solid platform on which to build, and that should be the first thing they lean into to try and fix things. But Fields needs to respond to that with a significantly more decisive and competent approach to passing from the pocket. If he can’t do that in his third season in the league, the chances of it ever happening are slim.
Sep 19, 2023
We are getting perilously close to pushing the panic button on Justin Fields as the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears after two weeks into his third NFL season.
The Bears seem intent on never letting us get a completely clean evaluation on Fields, but what we have seen is worrying and, if anything, getting worse rather than better.
COMPLICATING FACTORS
Fields is averaging 6.5 yards per attempt and has more interceptions (three) than touchdowns (two) after two weeks. His average depth of target is just 5.3 yards, the second lowest at the position, and a league-low 22.7% of his passing attempts have traveled beyond the first-down markers. By any objective measure, Fields has looked terrible to start the season as a passer — the biggest area of focus for him and the Bears this season.
But it’s not all him. A Chicago offensive line that was bolstered in the offseason has been poor. The group has earned a 52.8 PFF grade, even as Fields makes it look worse than it actually is with his pocket presence and tendency to hold the ball.
Chicago’s offense came to an epiphany midway through last season that designed runs for Fields were an important foundation of his production, but the team seems to have completely forgotten that information.
Fields recorded 18 rushing yards on designed runs through Week 6 last season, before gaining 55 yards on designed runs against the Patriots and 349 for the remainder of the season.
In two games this season, the Bears have called four designed runs for Fields, one of which was a quarterback sneak. Those plays have gone nowhere, but last season showed what a vital component of the offense they are. Not calling them this year seems like a willful commitment to inefficiency.
To succeed in the NFL, Fields needs to become a better passer, but you don’t need to force him into disadvantageous situations to make him prove he can do that.
Chicago’s receivers, supposed to be vastly improved this year, really haven’t been. D.J. Moore made an impact in Week 2 but was largely shut down in Week 1 by Jaire Alexander.
Chase Claypool’s effort has been so questionable that it became a viral video after Week 1 and he had to apologize to the team, and Darnell Mooney is averaging less than a yard per route run.
Analyzing Fields' play has to be done through the lens of a supporting cast that seems below average at best in both critical areas of the passing game and a coaching staff that seems to be making the same mistakes as they did to start the 2022 campaign.
THE PROBLEMS
With 10 sacks taken in two games this season, Fields is ahead of only rookie C.J. Stroud. Only four of those sacks have actually been charged to Chicago blockers, with Fields either partly or wholly responsible for the others.
Just from TV viewing, some of the sacks he took against Tampa Bay in Week 2 looked horrendous, but it’s difficult without All-22 tape to factor in what was happening with his receivers and the play call itself. Coverage sacks are a very real concept, but somehow these plays looked worse when you factored that element.
Fields took some AWFUL sacks; they looked bad on TV view, but worse on All-22
Fields wasn’t facing suffocating coverage that left him nowhere to go with the football. There was usually at least one receiver open — and not just when the sack arrived, but throughout the play and at the point of his progression (rather than the backside of the play, where Fields never had eyes).
On multiple occasions, Fields is watching the called play develop exactly as it’s drawn up and then … not targeting a receiver.
This kind of internal paralysis is extremely worrying because it means he’s either not reading the play correctly or is and doesn’t trust himself enough to actually put the ball in the air.
What made it worse is that he actually began the game against the Bucs looking much better. His first drive saw him complete two of three attempts for 63 yards, including a third-down conversion. It also featured one of his few designed runs this season (which gained five yards), and he capped it off with a rushing score on a bootleg that he chose to keep rather than pass to an open D.J. Moore in the end zone.
After that, the wheels seemed to fall off. Fields was sacked (not his fault) on the first play of the next drive. On the ensuing third down, he took another sack (definitely his fault) rather than commit to passing the ball either where he locked on with his eyes or by working far enough through his progression to find a wide-open D.J. Moore waving for the football across the middle.
In the first quarter of his two performances this season, Fields has a 78.2 PFF passing grade. That mark drops to 37.5 for the rest of the game, and he hasn’t been able to offset that with enough rushing production the way he did much of last year.
The fact that there is at least a glimmer of an efficient and productive quarterback early in games when everything is scripted shows that there is still something to work with in Fields. It also highlights the concern that as soon as Fields is on his own and has to react to the flow of the game, he seizes up.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If Fields was a rookie, we would be evaluating his tape as evidence of a talented but extremely raw prospect — somebody in need of structure around him and an offense that limits its asks and restricts how much he has to do on any given play. He isn’t a rookie, though, and while his environment has been awful for most of his first two years, it’s very concerning that he is at this level at the start of Year 3 in the league.
Anthony Richardson, the rookie Colts quarterback who attempted just 393 passes in college, already looks significantly less raw as a quarterback — even just a passing quarterback — than Fields.
Even if the Chicago coaches don’t remember, we saw last season that you can craft an offense around Fields that leans on his absurd physical talent and props everything else up to the point of viability. It gives the offense a solid platform on which to build, and that should be the first thing they lean into to try and fix things. But Fields needs to respond to that with a significantly more decisive and competent approach to passing from the pocket. If he can’t do that in his third season in the league, the chances of it ever happening are slim.
Balco
Footballguy
They aren’t winning even if he is running (as evidenced by securing the number one overall pick last season).
He has to be the worst passer in the NFL starting right now and I am cognizant of the fact Zach Wilson is in that group.
Drake Hater
Footballguy
Fields was bad at the beginning of last season too before seemingly coming out of nowhere to completely reverse course.
Does that happen again this year? Were there other factors then that aren't there anymore to make that more difficult?
It's hard to understand what looks like significant regression in his play from such improvements. It was almost like he suddenly figured it out last year - did he just not retain it?
Does that happen again this year? Were there other factors then that aren't there anymore to make that more difficult?
It's hard to understand what looks like significant regression in his play from such improvements. It was almost like he suddenly figured it out last year - did he just not retain it?
Balco
Footballguy
But did he actually figure it out? Bears still lost games at a torrid pace. He had great fantasy numbers but I think a deep dive into his passing metrics might tell a complete story.
Max Power
Footballguy
The working theory is that last season Fields was a bad QB overall out of the gate. The team wasn't going anywhere last year, so they let Justin play to his strengths while they tried to develop him as a passer. We made excuses for his lack of weapons as why he wasn't developing as a QB. Fields showed enough with his legs to be given another year to try to be a franchise QB. Added more talent around him and hoped he would take the step forward.
GM Poles traded out of #1 to give Fields the chance and the rumor is they don't want to invest in JF long term if he looks more like a Lamar Jackson/ Daniel Jones type of guy. They want a Franchise QB in the mold of a Jalen Hurts style QB. One that can throw, but can run when needed and not a QB that can run and sort of throw.
The easy button is to alter the gameplan to JFs strengths and maybe this team wins 7-8 games, but then Poles is stuck going into 2024 again not knowing what he has in a QB. So right now the coaching staff is forcing him to be something he isn't (possible by pressure from the GM).
So I think this all comes down to looking at JF as an investment at this point. When his first contract is up, do the Bears really want to spend 45mil a season on a running QB who can run for 1k, but only throws for 2500? From a business standpoint that isn't a good investment.
FarFromHome
Footballguy
Seems like the perfect buy low window. He has one of those big rushing days he is capable of and he faults up again.
Wigglytuff's Gruff
Footballguy
He should secure them a pick high enough so they can draft a strong replacement.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
I've watched both games this season and I'd be willing to move him right now if I got a decent offer.
I'm not starting him this week because kc scares me to death and I don't believe Fields can take advantage of garbage time opportunities. I simply lost faith in him at this point.
Yea not feeling great about him this week either, but it's either Fields vs KC or Daniel Jones vs SF which I don't trust either lol
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DocHolliday
Footballguy
I have the same decision and am not leaning in either direction. Maybe it will be a coin flip.
This feels like one of those situations where Fields shouldn't be saying that publicly, despite the fact its obviously true.
Yea this could spiral downward fast into a dumpster fire
Team Chaos
Footballguy
He’s not wrong. Well, at least I fully believe that’s a big part of it. Trying to fit a quarterback into a system instead of designing an offense to fit a quarterback’s strengths.
FairWarning
Footballguy
Probably dumb but I like his rushing yards prop over. Don’t know the status of Nate Davis this week, but the LT Braxton Jones went on IL today. He will miss a min of a month. If they can’t block, they should play Kmet less, and use a blocking TE.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Yeah, I'm benching him for Jordan Love. I'm even pondering picking up Mayfield and starting him against against the Eagles depleted secondary, but I can see that going south if the pass rush hits on all cylinders.
I woundn’t call it stones, but more like no choice
jurrassic
Footballguy
I think he'll rush at least 12 times this weekend. The coaching staff and front office are under fire from everywhere. Fans, media and now their qb. No idea how they adapted their offense last year to let Fields to be Fields and then they reverted back to taking away what made him special.
jurrassic
Footballguy
If they get the #1 pick in back-to-back years, they will completely clean house. How can you not? I guess it is the Bears, but still.
New front office, new coaching staff, new qb. Fields will be moved for a 3rd day pick.
Incompetence.
opensourcebeer
Footballguy
I'm glad Fields is making these comments now rather than mid-season. There's still time for that coaching staff to do what you're suggesting. Otherwise, Fields seems like he's chosen the mutually assured destruction path if something doesn't change.
Can't blame him. His career is on the line too
jurrassic
Footballguy
He's in career saving mode. He can read which way the wind is blowing and it's carrying the stench directly from the coaching staff. Smart calculated move by him. Preparing his life boat if the ship goes down.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
Well, I think he knew what was coming...
Fields says he's being given too much info by Bears coaches, needs to trust instincts
Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields indicated he is being given too much information by the coaching staff and thinking too much as a result rather than trusting his instincts.
apnews.com
I imagine he runs the ball atleast 10x this week
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Banger
Footballguy
wow...FIelds throwing the staff under the bus and backing over them and the DC resigning today after reportedly getting raided by the FBI for child porn...things are off to a good start in the windy city....
ChiefD
Footballguy
See, Fields scares me as a Chiefs fan this week. Desperate players/teams do desperate things in order to save their butts.
I could see Fields taking off and running a lot against the Chiefs and at least making things uncomfortable for awhile. These types of games as a Chiefs fan scare me silly. We saw it last year when they laid a turd against the Colts.
LawFitz
Footballguy
jurrassic
Footballguy
Chiefs was my locked in survivor pick. I hear you on that.
InDitkaWeTrust
Footballguy
LOL. They other two TEs on the team are Tonyon and Mercedes Lewis. Neither of which are known for their blocking ability.
ChiefD
Footballguy
I think I'm still taking the Chiefs in my survival pool.
