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Update: Fields offered clarification for his comments and took ownership for his poor play, which does show some good leadership. However, there’s a lot of issues surrounding the Bears at the moment and there’s clearly something amiss within that organization. The synergy isn’t there and unless things change, there will be some big moves at Halas Hall after the season.
Justin Fields spoke for 1 minute in the locker room to clarify his comments made earlier today: "I’m not blaming anything on the coaches. I’m never going to blame anything on coaches, never going to blame anything on my teammates. I will take every - whatever happens in a game -…
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) September 20, 2023
The Chicago Bears have struggled to get going in the 2023 NFL season, suffering two tough losses to the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The worst part of these losses for Bears fans has been the play of quarterback Justin Fields. Fields has struggled to make this offense tick and has posted a 22.2 QBR through two games. Here’s the quarterback’s take on why he has been having issues.
Here's the full video of Justin Fields talking today to the media about his struggles and what he needs to get back to doing, along with his full explanation on "coaching" potentially being part of the issue.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 20, 2023
Fields opened up... https://t.co/18iViHWfoj pic.twitter.com/37ocE7e7zQ
Justin Fields acknowledged he has been playing too robotic, then bit the pin off the grenade and rolled it into the building with his explanation for why he believes it is that way: "Coaching."
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) September 20, 2023
Wow.
A LOT more on that in a bit.
Head coach Matt Eberflus has a defensive background, so he’s not exactly the best fit for making sure Fields develops into a franchise guy. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy appears to be a predictable play-caller and hasn’t allowed Fields to run the ball more. In fact, Fields has just 13 official rushing attempts through two games. Last season, the quarterback ran for 1,143 yards at an average of 7.1 yards per carry.
Fields was expected to be one of the top fantasy football quarterbacks this season, largely due to his ability to run the ball. If the coaching staff isn’t going to start putting him in motion more and give him the freedom to take off in the open field, it might be time to explore different options at the position for your roster. Dropping Fields probably isn’t the best option, and it’ll be hard to trade him to someone else after these first two weeks. It’s best to hold onto him for now and see if things change, but grabbing a backup option is a good idea.
The Bears play the Chiefs in Week 3, who rank 12th in rush yards allowed per game.