Everybody expects the Chicago Bears to be a bad team this year. Some have gone so far as to say they’ll be one of the worst in the NFL. That is an argument worth having, but it underscores an interest sub-debate. With Justin Fields being on a bad team, does that mean he is destined to have a bad season? In an interview, David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago posed this question to Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.
Young made it clear that the team’s record shouldn’t impact Fields’ development. He believes a quarterback can play well during a season, and the team is still not good. It has to be about improving everything he does. Fields must become more efficient, quicken his operation, and learn how to process. It is all about stacking positive plays and minimizing negative ones.
Young is correct in his assessment.
Last season alone provided multiple examples of quarterbacks having good seasons and their teams underachieving. Russell Wilson went 6-8 despite posting a 103.1 passer rating with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. Kirk Cousins threw 33 TDs with seven interceptions and finished 8-8. This should serve as a reminder that while quarterbacks move the needle more than any other position, they still aren’t capable of doing it all themselves. Football is a team sport.
Even Young himself experienced this reality early in his NFL career. During the 1991 season, he started ten games, throwing 17 touchdowns to eight interceptions with a 101.8 passer rating. The San Francisco 49ers still only went 5-5 during that stretch. Fields may have total control of the Bears’ 2022 record, but that should not stop him from improving as a quarterback.
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Justin Fields has no excuse not to improve.
He has 12 games of experience under his belt now. He got a lesson in how physical and diverse NFL defenses are. Despite everything he went through, there was an improvement. His passer rating went from 64.8 through the first five starts to 84.0 through the next five. That was behind a terrible offensive line in an offensive that had no sense of identity. The Bears spent the off-season looking to improve both. More depth was secured up front, while Luke Getsy hopes to tailor the new system around what Fields does best.
It will be a genuine shock if Justin Fields isn’t considerably improved this season. He doesn’t have to be a star. Expecting that much wouldn’t be fair. It must be about incremental improvement. Young didn’t start to blossom until his third season in the NFL, which was his fifth professional football season. He spent his first two with the old USFL. Patience paid off with him.
It can for Fields as well.
The key is whether he can go from an excellent athlete with a great arm to a true pocket quarterback that can also run. This was the same challenge that Young faced. Everybody viewed him as a great runner with a strong arm for years. Then Bill Walsh taught him how to play quarterback the right way. Fields must make that same transition. He showed signs of progress last season. Now it’s about building on that.
I seriously doubt JF will be getting hit as much as he did last year due to the fact that he now has a competent OC (Getsy), Unlike last year where he played in system that didn’t consistently play to his strengths with an absolutely incompetent head coach who just didn’t understand how to protect him (Atrocious play calling. 9 sacks in 1 game was like watching High School Football) I saw plenty “wow” moments from Fields (good and bad.. mostly due to poor protection). JF most definitely has a lot of growing up to do. If he displays growth… Read more »
Young’s point is useful @ time-frame to judge a QB. Used to take 30-40 games to make a decision on a QB. You can shorten that to 2 yrs now. By the end of this year we need to see obvious improvement from Fields or need to draft his competition next spring. Either he can handle the speed of the NFL or he can’t. Yes it stinks that he’s getting hit too much…same for any QB. But like Young said, you should be able to see the play-making, regardless. The way I see it: Look at all the best QB’s.… Read more »
Steve Young is my 3rd favorite QB of all time. He played a similar style to Justin Fields. He knows how it is to succeed while being depended on to run sometimes. If he likes it, fantastic. Just being the guy, altering his delivery slightly, and knowing the identity of what the offense is trying to do should go miles in his development this year.
Young was always sharp with good incites. For a long time he was only NFL QB with a career QBR over 100.
The Steve Young interview was fascinating! “ The NFL today is so much less sophisticated than it was 15 to 20 years ago. It’s college football.“ First I’ve heard this perspective. In other words because of the state pro ball today, JF (or any other QB) should be able to fairly quickly show that he can cut it. They used to say that it took QBs 2 to 4 years to develop. Now it seems the timetable is compressed. This is good news for us and the Bears: we should know by the end of this coming year whether JF… Read more »