Justin Fields has 28 passing attempts through two weeks this season. Every other NFL team has at least 28 completions. That helps put into perspective how slow the start has been for the Chicago Bears’ passing attack. To be fair, there are extenuating circumstances. The first game was in a monsoon where throwing the ball was almost impossible. Then against the Green Bay Packers, the Bears only ran 41 total offensive plays with 19 called passes. Fields only threw 11 of them. The rest were sacks or scrambles.
The young quarterback isn’t where he wants to be right now. He looks more like the player he was through his first five starts last season. Some have started to wonder if he’ll ever clear the gap necessary to become the long-term guy fans are praying for. One NFL executive is tired of hearing it. He spoke to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune about the Bears’ situation. Forget the scheme and all that other crap.
Focus on the obvious reality that Fields has zero help
“We’re living in a microwave society,” he said. “People want things now as opposed to allowing it to go in the oven, bake over time and come out to be a perfect meal that tastes really good. These young quarterbacks, people need to stop demanding immediate results, particularly the ones that are on bad teams.
“You look at Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia. He’s throwing to freaking A.J. Brown and he’s got a young guy on the come in DeVonta Smith, who was the Heisman Trophy winner. And he’s got a young tight end in Dallas Goedert, and the offensive line there is one of the best in the league. If you put Fields behind that line, how good would he look?
“If you look at the Bears roster, they are awful. They are not built for Fields to have success. The receivers are a hodgepodge of guys. I like Mooney but after him, who is he throwing to?”
Justin Fields is trying to survive on leftovers.
Facts are facts. Look at his top four receivers on the depth chart through two games. Darnell Mooney is solid despite his bad start. The next three are Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, and Byron Pringle. All three are castoffs from other teams. St. Brown never emerged in Green Bay. Pettis was a 2nd round pick that busted in San Francisco. Pringle was productive his final year in Kansas City but wasn’t brought back despite the team losing Tyreek Hill to a trade.
That should tell you everything you need to know about where the Bears are at. Cole Kmet is once again disappointing as a receiving threat at tight end. This team’s only dependable offensive weapons are David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert. Hopes are high that rookie 3rd round receiver Velus Jones can help once he returns from his hamstring injury. Still, it feels like this problem will linger most of the year for Justin Fields.
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His job is to handle as best he can and try not to get killed. Then GM Ryan Poles can start doing something about it in 2023, when he has a full deck of cards to play with.
