Justin Fields is getting criticism from all angles lately. Such is the reality when a quarterback plays poorly. While unfortunate for the kid, it isn’t entirely fair. Though a number of mistakes in recent weeks are his fault, a healthy majority of them can be blamed on the appalling situation around him. Poor pass protection. Receivers who keep dropping his passes. Most of all an offensive scheme that seems equal parts bland and impossibly rigid.

There are plenty of stats to help justify how poorly Matt Nagy and his staff have handled this entire situation. Yet one that has to stand out above the rest was brought to light by former quarterback Dan Orlovsky. He’s been on top of the Bears’ situation for months. Now more than ever he is convinced that Nagy has to go. His latest piece of evidence? The team’s use of the play action pass. Or rather lack thereof.

Think about that.

Mac Jones has 30 play action passes in the past three games. Trevor Lawrence has 28. Fields has 16. That by itself is not a great look for the Bears coaching staff given how valuable it can be to ease the pressure on a quarterback. What makes it even more egregious? The fact that Chicago has the 6th-best running game in the NFL. By contrast? Jacksonville is 16th and New England is 23rd. That doesn’t seem to have stopped them from running play action more often.

It gets better. Fields is 23-of-35 for 262 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions off play action. He is at his best as a passer in those situations. One would think a smart coaching staff would see this on film and seek to exploit it as much as they possibly can. That has not been the case. Another reminder that common sense often eludes this team from an offensive standpoint.

Justin Fields is forced to think about survival right now

While other young quarterbacks can think about growth, he is just trying not to get broken in half. He is the most sacked quarterback in the NFL right now at 22. Five of those are credited to his own mistakes. The rest go to his offensive line, running backs, and tight ends. One can throw Nagy and his staff in there as well for several of their game plans in recent weeks.

People keep talking about him not showing enough growth. How can he think about that right now when he’s too often forced to think about basic survival? This is another reason the Bears have to make play action a great emphasis of their offense. As long as the running game keeps working, it will work too. By extension, it will diffuse the pass rush and give Justin Fields room to breathe.

This poor kid needs a bounceback game badly.

Not just for his own confidence but to get people off his back. The critics are already calling him a possible bust after five starts. It’s fine to say he hasn’t played well. Nobody on that entire offense has. When this is the case? The only thing left to consider is the coaching staff isn’t doing their jobs. They aren’t putting their players in the best position to succeed. This is just more evidence of that.