Chicago Bears fans who are skeptical of Justin Fields have the right to be, as his Year 1 tape was unimpressive considering his hype.
Among the top five quarterbacks taken in the 2021 NFL Draft, Justin Fields was perceived by many to be a better selection than New England Patriots rookie Mac Jones.
However, Jones would prove to be the better NFL quarterback in Year 1, dethroning former starter Cam Newton and taking the Patriots on a historic seven-game win streak before the team was felled in the playoffs by the Buffalo Bills.
Still, the 10-7 Patriots fared better than the 6-11 Chicago Bears, who officially named Fields as their starter on Oct. 6, 2021. Fields won two of the ten games he started in, and aside from an impressive 20-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Fields only managed to conquer one of the NFL’s worst teams for the remainder of the season: the Detroit Lions.
While the “Fire Nagy” chants rid the team of head coach Matt Nagy in addition to general manager Ryan Pace, the Bears still face qualms at the quarterback position in Year 2. FanSided’s Mark Carman and Patrick Schmidt commiserated with one another as they spoke frankly about Fields’ season.
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“I’ve watched every Justin Fields game —I’ve watched every Bears game for a decade-plus — but looking back at the numbers, it looks worse than it was in the moment, and I’m almost thinking, ‘Did I overvalue him in the moment?’” Carman asked himself.
“I mean, 2-8, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, a completion percentage under 60…by the numbers, he was awful,” Carman said. “All I remember is the Pittsburgh game — he was flying around, and they should have won that game — but in reality, the dude was bad.”
Bears fans confess that Justin Fields has been disappointing thus far
While Fields didn’t have as bad of a year as New York Jets rookie Zach Wilson or Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Trevor Lawrence, Bears fans only seemed to see flashes and glimpses of Fields’ talent rather than the consistent display they hoped for during the draft.
“There are definitely glimpses and flashes,” Schmidt said. “In Year 2, you want those glimpses and flashes to be more sustained, not like Halley’s Comet streaking through the sky.”
NFL film analyst and YouTuber Jackson Krueger echoed what Carman and Schmidt said, but he had an optimistic perspective on what this meant for Fields’ future in Chicago.
“You’re not seeing more consistency, but you’re seeing more flashes, which is what you want to see,” Krueger said. “You hope that you get the high highs, and then you hope the consistency follows… I know that the numbers weren’t great, but I thought that the tape was actually a lot better,” Krueger said of Fields’ game against the Green Bay Packers.