A Few Nuggets From Yesterday's Game To Make You Feel Better About Justin Fields

I am still tired from watching that Bears-Giants game yesterday. An absolute fucking grind to watch for 60 minutes. No TDs. Mistakes in all three phases. When the final whistle blew I felt like I had just escaped a headlock. After the game I couldn't even stomach football the rest of the day. Other teams making offense look easy always eats at me after a Bears game. When the gf asked if we could put on Hocus Pocus 2 I said yes because I'd rather watch anything else at that point. 

Now that a day has gone by I am ready to talk about it and I am ready to look for some positives. The positives list, for me, really begins and ends with Justin Fields. We always knew this was going to be a rebuilding year. We knew the talent wasn't going to be there across the 53 man roster. That is by design. Is that a good plan? We'll see, but at least having no weapons for Fields was something we knew coming in to the 2022 season. I watched the Vikings game in London before the Bears. Cousins has weapons everywhere. Justin Jefferson, Thielan, Dalvin Cook, etc. You flip on the Bears and it's...not that. It's probably the worst collection of weapons in the league. That isn't an excuse, it's a fact. The Bears will have their full allotment of draft picks and a gazillion dollars in cap space so 2023 BETTER be improved otherwise we are just on the same cycle as never being able to have a QB when your roster is good or never having a good roster when your QB is good. 

If you want to feel better about Fields yesterday there were some moments and some stats

This wasn't Fields' only good throw, but it was the most memorable and maybe the most meaningful.

I love Mooney, but I don't think he is a true #1 wide receiver. Definitely not when you're using the Vikings as a comparison. This was a moment though. Clean pocket, single coverage, leading a guy with speed. Perfect execution by Fields and a great catch by Mooney. Those are the types of throws the Bears need to make more consistently and if they can find guys who can create separation, well, it appears that Fields has the tools to see him and hit him. That's a good thing. Even though the numbers weren't exactly pretty I think that was Fields' best game of the year and Getsy gave him more chances to shine. 

For the first time this year the line was a real problem for the Bears. They weren't getting the push they needed in the run game and Fields was under pressure a lot. Look what Fields did when he had time

He obviously has to be better when under pressure. That is the difference between good and average QBs. You also need to have guys on the outside who can read blitzes and create separation quickly to give the QB options when needed. That does appear to be missing. 

It's not just that Fields was under pressure a lot. It's that he had pressure directly in his face

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I want Mustipher to be good. Nice guy. ND guy. Simply overmatched yesterday. This was the breakdown of pressures allowed by each guy in pass protection

The Bears best 5 up front would appear to be:

Jones-Whitehair-Patrick-Jenkins-Borom

Patrick hasn't been able to play center all year because his thumb has been in a cast. Whitehair now dealing with a knee injury too. The Bears might need the waiver wire to get through the season. Having said that…12 combined interior pressures allowed (counting Herbert's 3 too) doesn't give Fields much of a chance. 

All I ever wanted from this season was a reason to believe in Fields. It hasn't been easy to get there yet. You have to look for matchlight in the darkness, but yesterday was that for me. Fields is a clearly a tough kid. He clearly has some tools. He was better this week than he was in week 3. He has a lot going against him. New system, lack of experience, protection problems, lack of weapons, etc. If Fields gets incrimentally better week over week while having to deal with all of those challenges then I think we can hold out hope that he can be the guy. He doesn't have to be Mahomes. Nobody is Mahomes. Can he improve and be as competent as Jalen Hurts? I think it's possible. I might be writing this blog for just me. I want to feel better. I want to believe. I am looking for a single point of light at the end of a long dark tunnel, but there was a gleam yesterday. Hold on to that gleam and pray things get better as the team gets better around him.