Getty Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears walks off the field after a loss against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on December 20, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
It’s safe to say Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields hasn’t had the rookie season he or Bears fans had hoped for. The numbers certainly aren’t great.
The 22-year-old QB has completed 58.9% of his passes for 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions so far this season.
He also has 420 yards rushing and two scores on the ground, and despite showing continuous flashes and potential, the rookie signal-caller has also displayed a lack of awareness that hasn’t improved as the season has progressed. He still takes too many sacks, often holding onto the ball too long instead of throwing it away, and he needs to work on his ball security in a big way. His 12 fumbles lead the NFL, and his QBR of 25.3 — more on that later — isn’t encouraging.
Also not encouraging? The comments about Fields coming from one of the team’s top insiders.
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Bears Insider on Fields: He Needs to Make Major Strides
Top Bears insider Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune was asked by a fan in his weekly Q&A column about Fields’ progress — or lack thereof — so far after 10 starts and 12 games. Biggs’ response was far from encouraging.
“The performance to this point hasn’t been good,” Biggs wrote on December 22.
“The experience is going to benefit Fields. He’s comfortable when making plays outside the pocket. He’s dangerous with his legs. He needs to make major strides as a pocket thrower reading defenses and anticipating throws. He has a lot of work to do, and I think he’ll be driven to show he can turn the corner going into Year 2. But it’s about as bad as it can be right now. … Mitch Trubisky’s rookie season in 2017 with a lower-caliber cast of skill position players around him was statistically better.”
Stats are one thing — few in Chicago would take Trubisky over Fields when it comes to franchise quarterbacks — but Biggs also cited a damning article by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert that paints a very gloomy outlook for Fields.
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Fields’ QBR is Historically Bad So Far
“Fields has produced a number of other positive moments in nine starts, but the discrepancy between the ups and downs of his rookie season has been historic,” Seifert wrote on December 20, noting Fields’ QBR this season is “the fifth worst of any quarterback in NFL history who has started at least nine games in a season.”
How much does one metric matter? According to Seifert, a lot:
QBR was conceived in 2006, and the only quarterbacks who have posted a number worse than Fields in at least nine starts are Jimmy Clausen (2010), Blaine Gabbert (2011), Wilson and Josh Rosen (2018). You would have to scan past 75 names on the list of lowest QBRs in a season to find a quarterback who made a Pro Bowl roster at some time in his career, even as an alternate (Derek Carr, 2015 with a 43.1 QBR).
To be sure, no quarterback should be written off after nine starts in a rookie season on a bad team. What we can do, however, is look at the history of quarterbacks who have struggled to a degree similar to Fields. QBR goes back 16 years, a full era in the quickly changing world of NFL quarterback play. In that time span, no one who has played at this level has elevated into a long-term answer for his team. That’s not to say Fields can’t. But if he does, he would be the first.
There’s a first time for everything, and Fields is far from doomed. The young quarterback is both smart and hard-working, and he’ll certainly be taking measures to improve his game this offseason.
Fields will likely benefit greatly if and when the team cleans house and gets a new head coach to work with and develop him. Chicago’s current head coach, Matt Nagy, has been repeatedly lambasted for his inability to develop young quarterbacks (his work, if you can call it that, with both Trubisky and Fields has led to virtually zero improvements). If the Bears can get a solid offensive mind in to help Fields eliminate mistakes while also designing an offense built around his strengths (Nagy hasn’t done that), his future could actually be very bright.
All Bears fans can do now is sit back and wait to see what kind of regime the team brings in next.
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