Why Bears believe Fields on path to become better QB originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Justin Fields has taken a remarkable leap forward this season, after a ho-hum rookie campaign. He’s shown the dynamic speed, playmaking ability and arm talent that convinced the Bears to trade up for him in the 2021 draft. The team should feel great about moving forward with Fields leading both the offense and the franchise.
But he’s far from a finished product. There are still several areas in which Fields needs to grow for the team to reach its ultimate goal. There are still instances when he holds onto the ball too long. He’s taken completely unnecessary sacks, or set the team back in other ways by trying to extend a play for a home run rather than taking an easy under route or simply throwing the ball away to reset for the next down.
“Take the fumble that he had — the strip fumble, those types of plays,” said Luke Getsy referring to Fields’ second quarter fumble in Week 17. “He snaps the ball they’re in one coverage, catches the ball and they rotate to a different coverage. He's got to be able to play the play with better instincts. There’s a ton of things we’ve got to grow from, those types of opportunities.”
Getsy believes those instincts are something Fields can develop in the classroom and the practice field, then apply in games. The instincts should also develop with more time as he plays more.
“He’s proven that he knows what to do,” Getsy said. He has proven in practice that he can apply. As you get to the real game experience, you talk about the real speed, the coverage is changing, or the pressure that’s happening, or whatever, something that changes and then in a split second be able to apply it appropriately, yes that is definitely experience that he didn’t have and that he got a lot of this year.”
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It’s a delicate balance, because part of what makes Fields so great is his ability to extend plays. He can take what should be a negative play, and somehow turn it into a 60-yard run. That ability is rare and it’s what gives Fields a superstar ceiling. It can backfire though, like with the aforementioned sacks and fumbles. So how do Bears coaches strike a balance between encouraging Fields to make spectacular plays, while discouraging the big mistakes? Getsy refers back to his time with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
“He doesn’t see things like everybody else does,” Getsy said. “So you work through that in the sense of like, OK, what’s your why? Why did you it? He communicates that more clearly than any human being in the world. So what’s cool about Justin is that he’s kind of on that path. He has his whys. He sees what he sees and he’s able to communicate that. And then all you do is you just reflect, OK, the process tells you this. Now we need to apply it and then you never ignore instincts.”
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There are plays that teams work on dating all the way back to OTAs. They rep timing and progression and how everything is supposed to work. Once it’s time to execute that play in a game however, things are different, and Getsy says players must be allowed to “bring it to life.” Again, those are skills any player needs to develop.
“He’s making a decision for a reason,” Getsy said about Fields. “So those conversations have been really good.”
Bottom line is that Fields’ production as a passer this year was not good. His 2,242 passing yards rank 25th in the NFL, but all the QBs who trail him have played at least two fewer games. His 17:11 TD:INT ratio leaves much to be desired, too. He only completed 20 passes in a game, once. Some of that can be explained by the Bears offense leaning on the run game throughout the year, but another piece is that for most of the year the passing attack simply struggled. The Bears aren’t worried about the bad numbers though. They see the intangibles, they see the growth, and they’re confident that will lead to success down the road.
“I think he got challenged last week with what happened with Chase on the sideline and he handled that,” Getsy said. “That's him becoming the leader of the football team and being a great pro and consistent every day. I think that's the most important thing. Then all the other stuff, those guys see every day on the practice field. They see him getting better every day. The results of it, the statistics that everyone's looking for, those will come. And we know that.”
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