Bears quarterback Justin Fields is barely removed from finishing last in the NFL in yards passing and fresh off throwing hope-crushing pick-sixes in each of the first two games, so this is a shaky time to vent frustrations about coaching.
Fields’ coaches, from Matt Nagy to current offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and coach Matt Eberflus, have had their issues, but he hasn’t provided much evidence that he’d be thriving even if everything around him had been perfect.
And now, when it seems the Bears couldn’t be more of a debacle, would be the absolute worst time for him to fall flat yet again.
If Fields insisted on airing all this out, it would’ve been more prudent to pick another week rather than doing it ahead of a visit to the defending champion Chiefs on Sunday. Not only do they have a two-time MVP quarterback in Patrick Mahomes who illustrates precisely how far Fields is from the top, but they have an elite pass rush led by All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones.
Fields should’ve known better, for several reasons, than to start a fire now. He could’ve at least waited until the Bears host the winless Broncos next week, although no opponent qualifies as a cupcake for this team.
It was staggeringly inconvenient for the Bears when they were trying to put out a separate fire amid the mysterious resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams. Coach Matt Eberflus is filling that role for now, and in addition to that unexpected responsibility, he needed to address the disconnect between Fields and Getsy.
“I’m in the quarterback meeting in the morning and in the afternoon, so it’s easy for me to step in there,” Eberflus said. “I just step in there and say, ‘Hey, is everybody good here?’
“I had Justin come up to my office. We talked and visited a little bit for five minutes, and everything was good. Just put everything on the table.”
Could Getsy make the offense more Fields-friendly? Of course, but there’s no certainty that would get the Bears anywhere. They got a brief bump from doing that leading up to their Week 7 upset of the Patriots last season, but still closed on a 12-game losing streak.
From Week 7, Fields had a 92.3 passer rating — a mark Mitch Trubisky topped in two of his four seasons with the Bears. Playing at that level is why this job was open in the first place.
Fields ran a ton during that stretch, averaging 95.7 yards per game, and reached 1,143 yards rushing for the season. But every defense is determined to keep him in the pocket now, and the Buccaneers sacked him six times and held him to three yards on four carries.
Every opponent wants to force him to pass, and that strategy has worked. Regardless of Fields’ opinion of how he has been coached, he’s ultimately the one deciding where the ball goes.
Neither Getsy nor Nagy made him into a turnover machine. Fields has had the highest percentage of his pass intercepted (3.5) and fumbled the most (31, though that includes bad snaps that aren’t necessarily on him) of any player since he entered the league.
Fix that, then circle back with thoughts on rewriting the offense.
Speaking of corrections, Fields targeted new wide receiver DJ Moore just nine times over the first two games. It seemed logical he’d average more than that per game. Even the Panthers’ parade of pitiful quarterbacks managed to get him the ball more.
No matter how the blame is divided, Fields hasn’t performed well in his three seasons. And he made the ongoing mess worse by doing anything other than wearing that.
The only way to get past this is to play a lot better. Calling out the coaches and then clunkily trying to backtrack was bad; following it by flopping at Arrowhead would be worse.
