Is Justin Fields Really the Answer in Chicago?
From the comments Bears GM Ryan Poles has made, it sounds like Chicago will be sticking with Justin Fields at quarterback. If they didn’t have the top pick in the Draft, there wouldn’t be much of a question as to whether or not this is the right decision. In his second season, Fields showed that he has more than enough raw talent to be given a shot to lead the Bears for the next couple of years, hopefully with a better roster around him.
But the Bears do have the #1 overall pick. And those don’t come along very often. In fact, this is the first time Chicago has held the pick since 1947. While there might not be a sure thing at the quarterback position this year, the Bears have plenty of good options if they move on from Fields.
They could take a quarterback at 1 and then trade Fields for draft picks. Or, they could trade down out of the #1 spot for picks, still take a quarterback, and then also trade Fields for additional picks.
There are several good options that the Bears should at least consider. Especially since Fields is hardly a sure thing given his shortcomings as a passer.
Why The Bears Should Stick With Fields
The case for sticking with Fields is simple. He can do things like this:
As a runner, Fields’ play-making ability is off the charts. He rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022, the second most in a single season by a QB in NFL history. He truly has the opportunity to become the best running quarterback we’ve ever seen.
Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy did a great job of capitalizing on Fields’ strengths last season. Of his 160 rushing attempts, 89 were designed runs according to Pro Football Focus. That’s roughly 6 per game. During his rookie season, he had just 27 designed rushing attempts in 10+ games. Clearly, Getsy put a greater emphasis on taking advantage of his unique abilities as a runner. And when you include his scrambles, Fields was able to utilize his legs more than 10 times per game in 2022.
Getsy also did a great job of shielding his weaknesses. Fields had the 5th-highest play-action frequency and the 2nd-highest screen frequency in the league last season. That means lots of prescribed throws and simple, defined reads.
Fields’ legs were integrated into the passing game, as the Bears frequently used boots off of play-action and a healthy amount of RPO’s (The Bears were 4th in the NFL with 18% of their pass attempts coming off of RPO’s according to Pro Football Reference).
Getsy de-emphasized full-field reads where Fields would need to sit in the pocket and work through an entire progression, something he is not comfortable or effective doing. Instead, most plays were either 2-to-3-receiver reads, half-field reads, or mirrored concepts, whether out of play-action or straight drop-backs. That meant it was largely built into the system that if one of Fields’ first two reads weren’t open, he was encouraged to run. That not only played to his strengths as a ball carrier, but it allowed him to get to the edge and make throws while on the move where he is more comfortable:
The offense peaked between weeks 7 and 11, scoring 29.6 points per game. Not only did Fields rush for 552 yards and 6 touchdowns during that time, but he had the best stretch of his career as a passer. He completed 64.6% of his passes for 773 yards, 9 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and a 99.9 passer rating. His left-shoulder injury in Week 11 ultimately derailed the offense a bit, but those games showed everyone what Fields is capable of.
Given how the NFL has evolved in recent years, there’s no reason why the Bears couldn’t continue with a QB-run heavy offense that develops into something spectacular, perhaps similar to what we saw in Philadelphia last season. This is especially the case if the Bears use their abundance of cap space (currently more than any other team) and Draft capital to make major improvements to the offense overnight.
Why The Bears Should Consider Moving On
The concerns with Fields have to do with his abilities as a passer (which is not a great thing when talking about the quarterback position).
He’s still so raw with everything that he does. There isn’t a lot of precision or nuance to his game. His feet don’t move with his eyes as he works through his reads. His arm slot is inconsistent and often too low. The result is that Fields’ ball placement is erratic. We’re not talking about slightly imprecise throws here. We’re talking killing worms on quick screen passes. We’re talking missing wide-open receivers and turning potential big plays into incompletions or interceptions:
Fields missed countless opportunities through the air during the 2022 season, even in those games when he was playing well. You can turn on the All-22 from just about any game and find a miss or two like these: