Sunday’s game against the Texans was viewed as a get-right game for Bears quarterback Justin Fields, who struggled in the passing game in a Week 2 loss to the Packers.
Instead, Fields’ performance against Houston sparked cause for concern about his future as a franchise quarterback in Chicago. Fields completed 8-of-17 passes for 106 yards with two interceptions, two fumbles and a 27.7 passer rating.
Fields will be the first to tell you how bad he played.
“Straight up, I played likeー I want to say the “a” word, but I won’t, so I’ll say I just played like trash,” Fields told reporters after the game. “Played terrible, and really just gotta be better.”
Among the mistakes Fields made were those two interceptions, which were just terrible decisions on his part.
“First one, I just missed it,” Fields said. “Cole (Kmet) was wide open, I just missed it. Second one, I got pressure, saw Cover 2, MIKE was running with Darnell (Mooney)… When I saw that, I got hit while I was throwing, so next time I’ve gotta take the check down. So that’s one thing that I’m going to work on this week: Getting pressure, boom, check down. But yeah, at that time I wanted to get the ball to Darnell, he was running with the MIKE linebacker, so I wanted to get the ball to him back-shoulder or something like that, ball sailed too high.”
While those two interceptions were frustrating, Fields didn’t let them kill his confidence. He was focused on the task at hand: Winning the game.
“After the two picks, it’s 20-20, the score’s 20-20,” Fields said. “The two picks aren’t going to do anything for them now, so it’s like ‘F it’ at that point. I’m going to do whatever I can to help us win a game. Of course I want to play better, but my team still needs me so I can’t be sulking. ‘Oh, I threw two picks. Oh, I’m playing bad.’ This and that. There’s still more time on the clock for us to win the game.”
Through three games, Fields hasn’t thrown more than 121 yards or attempted more than 17 passes in a game. It’s not exactly what the Bears envisioned for Fields entering a pivotal second season. While it’s definitely alarming, it’s also too soon to decide Fields’ fate after just 13 career NFL starts.
“Again, I played terrible today. I’m going to get better,” Fields said. “We’re going to get better.”
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