Objectively speaking, Justin Fields was significantly better in 2022 compared to his rookie season. His passing stats improved, and he morphed into one of the most dangerous running quarterbacks in the entire NFL. Yet despite this, plenty of experts believe it would be in the best interests of the Chicago Bears to move on. They have the #1 overall pick. GM Ryan Poles should trade Fields while his value is still high and use that pick to select his quarterback of choice. That seems like a knee-jerk reaction considering the circumstances.
Sure, Fields didn’t have the greatest season as a passer. His 149.5 yards per game were by far the worst in the league, and he threw 17 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. Even he admitted the passing game could’ve been better. However, he didn’t have much help. The offensive line struggled in protection all season, and his array of weapons was mediocre at best. He hopes the wealth of salary cap space and high draft picks will allow the team to bring in more help. However, that isn’t a primary reason Fields is confident he’ll be better in 2023.
It is Luke Getsy returning as offensive coordinator for a second season. He explained why to Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report.
“It’s going to make a big difference,” Fields said. “Just the fact that last offseason I had to work on changing my footwork while not really knowing the routes we were going to throw and not really knowing anything in the offense. Now, I’ve got a good idea of what we’re going to run, the route concepts we’re going to run and the different actions that we’re going to run.”
Justin Fields will finally see stability in the offensive scheme.
People always gloss over how important something like this is to a quarterback’s development. Jay Cutler always said one doesn’t fully master a system until his third year. The bitter irony is that he never reached that third season with any of the Chicago offensive coordinators he worked with. Only Mike Martz and Marc Trestman reached a second season. Cutler was in MVP talks that second year under Martz and threw for the second-most yards and touchdowns in that second year under Trestman.
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History also says quarterbacks tend to struggle in their first year running this wide-zone offense Getsy installed. Aaron Rodgers had his fourth-worst passer rating for a season in 2019 during his first year in it. Matt Ryan had 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in his first. Matt Schaub had nine TDs and nine interceptions in his first. The encouraging part is that all three ended up having excellent second seasons. Rodgers and Ryan won MVPs. Schaub passed for the most yards in Houston Texans history.
That is why Justin Fields is confident, and it’s not hard to see why.
