Getty Justin Fields has had a slow start to the 2022 season.
The Chicago Bears suffered yet another loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on September 18, falling 27-10 at Lambeau Field.
It was a particularly ugly game for second-year quarterback Justin Fields and the offense. Fields went 7-of-11 for 70 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, and he rushed for 20 yards and a score. With yardage adjusted after the 3.0 sacks Fields took, the team finished with 48 net passing yards.
Stats aside, concerns about Fields began to mount after Chicago’s Week 2 loss. It’s early, and few if any have written off the young signal-caller yet, but over two games this season, it’s fair to say Fields has played only two solid quarters of football (see: the second half of Chicago’s Week 1 win over the San Francisco 49ers). He looked uncomfortable during the entire game against Green Bay — save for the opening drive — and he hasn’t yet shown the kind of poise you need your starter to have.
The Bears and their fans are still holding out hope Fields can be the organization’s first true franchise quarterback — and he still could be — but Fields’ performance against the Packers reminded many Bears fans of the team’s previous hopeful at the position, Mitch Trubisky.
Adrian Amos Drops Potentially Damning Comment About Fields
The Bears have the worst passing offense in the NFL through two games, and it’s not particularly close. Chicago is averaging 76.5 passing yards per game, with the next-worst passing team, the New York Giants, averaging 159.0 yards.
After Chicago lost to Aaron Rodgers and company for the 16th time in 18 games, insider Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune spoke to multiple Packers players about what they saw from Fields and the Bears offense. One of those players was safety Adrian Amos, who played for Chicago from 2015 to 2018.
Amos played with Trubisky for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, and he has played against Fields each of the last two years. Biggs asked Amos to compare the two QBs, and he wrote the following about his exchange with the Packers safety:
“I asked Amos, who played for the Bears from 2015-18, if he could compare Trubisky, his former teammate, with Fields. ‘I can,’ Amos said. ‘I don’t want to.'”
Biggs Elaborated on His Convo With Amos
In a September 19 appearance on 670 The Score’s “Mully & Haugh Show,” Biggs elaborated on his conversation with Amos:
“This guy was teammates with the last quarterback the Bears tried when he was young,” Biggs said, referring to Trubisky. “He studied Fields to play against him, he’s competed against him. How do you stack these two guys up? My takeaway from what Adrian Amos meant there was: ‘If I don’t have anything nice to say, I’m not going to say anything at all.’ That was kind of my takeaway. Could he have meant something else? I suppose that’s possible, but that was the impression I was left with at the end of our conversation.”
While Trubisky went 29-22 in his 51 starts with the Bears, he often looked lost when trying to read defenses, and he never quite elevated the play of those around him.
Fields’ numbers are also eerily similar compared to the former Bears QB through their first 12 starts:
Through first 12 starts
𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧
59.4 Comp % 58.7
6.6 yds/att 7.0
7 TD 9
7 INT 11
77.5 Pass Rtg 74.7
6.05 Rush Avg 5.43
Fields Still Time to Show He Can Grow
The Bears threw the ball less Week 1 due to the rainy weather, but Week 2, Fields had just 11 attempts, which baffled fans and analysts alike. After the loss to Green Bay, Fields admitted he would have liked to thrown the ball more.
“Of course,” he said. “I’m a competitor. But again, my job is to run the play that’s given to me the best that I can. I don’t control any of that.”
When asked what could be lacking or absent in the passing game, Fields didn’t have an answer.
“I’m not sure what’s missing in the passing game,” he admitted. “I don’t know.”
The 23-year-old quarterback is still learning Luke Getsy’s offense, which is the third system he has had to learn in three years, if you include his collegiate experience at Ohio State. Again, he could start to gel at any time. But those blaming his O-line and receiving corps for his early struggles might want to press pause.
Credit to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin for compiling the following stats: Fields has had the longest amount of time before pass attempts through two games (3.26 seconds), he has been inaccurate, with an off-target percentage of 30%, which is the second-highest in the NFL — and his receivers also appear to be getting open.
Some things to contextualize while watching back Bears-Packers
-Justin Fields has longest average time before pass in the NFL at 3.26 seconds
-His off-target percentage (30%) is the 2nd highest in NFL
-Per Next Gen, avg. separation on Fields’ targets is 3.93 yards (4th highest)
It will be key for Fields to bounce back Week 3 against the Houston Texans. If he plays better, Bears Nation should take a small sigh of relief. If he continues on this path, though, the time to worry could be soon in the Windy City.