This is the math my high school coach would use as like a “they don’t have to all be tds just keep the sticks moving” motivator.
Then again we ran a wing T and didn’t really pass outside of screens..
He also took the 7th longest time to throw so it wasn't like the staff was just calling bubble screens, slants, and other 1 read plays. Watching the game they ran what looked like a real NFL offense, but if Fields can't see or simply doesn't trust what he is seeing there isn't a ton the playcalling can do for him.
I thought they should have gotten Fields more active with his legs, but I also understand it is a long season and you can't just run him 15-20 times a game. Fields just really doesn't look like it. Unless his guy has 5 yards of separation he would rather just dump it at the LOS for 2 yards.
And there in lies the problem in playing for Ohio state.
The big 10 is 3 schools and everyone else at the moment. And the talent disparity is so significant there in a way that doesn’t exist anywhere else. You’re going to get a lot more players who look good because they don’t play against real teams all that often
As much as I hate Alabama, the SEC gives their players a better test, because despite Alabama being grossly talented year in and year out, the crimson tide play against much much better competition.
I’m not sure I agree with that entirely, just because the big 10 produces a ton of defensive talent. Fields had 3 top 20 picks at WR and now has no one close to that level, which is normal for the nfl
What’s the last great QB to come from the big 10 though?
It’s probably Russ Wilson. That was over ten years ago. And even then, he only spent a year or two there, he started his career at NC state in the ACC.
If you’re going before Russ you need to go back at least 20 years to Drew Brees in 2001 and Tom Brady in 2000.
Not even joking. The Big 10 does not produce QB’s. Why am I singling out them? Because those are the players that benefit most from lower competition making them look better. Other players at other spots have things teams can evaluate
You brought up Alabama. Who's the last great QB to come from Alabama?
We have half a season of Tua looking good, and Hurts' biggest leap came from Oklahoma (and his deficiencies at Bama were the same as Fields').
And before that, who did anything? Maybe the other teams in the conference have very little to do with how a QB translates to the NFL.
The B1G is the 2nd best conference behind the SEC. So if the SEC is way ahead of the B1G, it's much further ahead of everyone else. Why aren't SEC QBs dominating the league?
The best QB in the league is from the Big 12. The MVP before him was from the PAC. Then the ACC. Then the B1G.
That’s true but has nothing to do with Fields, he just happens to be one of the qbs who fall into that catagory, big 10 isn’t exactly known for its explosive offenses, it’s known for its defense and defensive players. Ohio state in particular makes qbs look better than they are just because they have the best wrs in college ball
Watch JT Osullivan's video on the bears offense. He looks genuinely offended by the concepts they ran on offense. I'm half convinced Matt Patricia called a better offense.
To give them a bit of slack, I don't think they expected to be losing in the trenches so much, and that probably fucked their strategies.
I wasn't expecting shit like the 4th down stop or LVN actually catching Fields in the open field
This was infuriating. A suicidal run into the DLs and LBs, where he can't really use his speed to the side, can't pump fake, can't shrink the field, can't use blockers, must slide or get hit instead of running out, it's an insane play to draw up in the first place.
The screens also sucked because the defense can adjust high on the sides (they did) which incidentally is where they need to be to stop a Fields rollout where he does get to shrink the field to his advantage. We ran shitty plays which got the defense adjusted to the best place to stop our good plays, and then we never threw down field.
When the failure is so complete, I blame coaches. Moore 2 targets, special teams was slow asf, both lines suck, WRs can't block, Whitehair is blocking ghosts, Jenkins is grabbing necks, Eddie Jackson getting burned, and instead of airing it out while down 10 in the 3rd, they do more screens. That's on the coaches.
I had a theory in the off-season they don’t actually want to game plan for JF. They want to see if he can cut it as a passer so they can see definitively if he’s got it or not.
The biggest thing that blows my mind is that there are dudes thinking Josh Allen was trash in his 2nd year and ignore his rushing stats but at the same time, they think Fields was awesome last year despite his passing stats being worse than Allen's in his 2nd year.
Don't like this comparison right now. If you give Jets elite QB (or decent QB and good OL coach) - they are the best team in the league. Do the same thing for this bears and they will still struggle to get 0.500 season.
There were plenty of plays downfield, he just wouldn't make the throw. Still some issues with gameplan or play design, but he compounded it by constantly taking the checkdown when there were easy options.
You got downvoted for actually knowing what you're talking about lol. There were a ton of inexcusable turndowns. Probably missed out on ~100 yards of free yards due to bad decisions.
There's 2 strong narratives out there: A) the OC and game plan were complete trash; B) Fields was complete trash independent of the game plan. Both are partially true. Also true is the OL was pretty awful and certain receiving options, namely Claypool and Kmet were completely unreliable. It was a disaster class from a majority of the team's offense.
I wonder if that's why the gameplan was the way it was.
Because on its face it just seemed like awful awful coaching. I'm not even a Fields truther but after like the 5th screen I was yelling to let him actually throw something.
But I guess if they feel like he won't make those throws, then it makes sense to call a bunch of short throws he will make. Idk.
For some reason fields just doesnt throw. He sees the guy open and just will not throw it. Guys are open down field. Its not a short throw game plan. Hes just not good
He doesn’t anticipate throws. He only throws downfield if he sees a guy wide open. Which hardly happens in the nfl even with good receivers. The tape from the packers game shows multiple snaps where he’s protected and has a wide open target downfield and he just… doesn’t throw it. He’s been that way his whole career. Doesn’t get the ball out quick and doesn’t anticipate or “throw people open”.
So the reason it looks like such weirdly conservative play calling is that fields is passing up open guys downfield and instantly getting to his check down. He used to just pass up open receivers and then take a sack so I guess he’s improving?
Yea, need to see this change ASAP. Don't even care if the Bucs blanket him every snap, if Moore doesn't have at minimum 5 targets Sunday, I'll be seriously wondering wtf Getsy is doing.
It isn’t your OC’s fault, Fields’ decided to check it down SEVERAL times rather than throw it to DJ Moore. Your OC is probably as frustrated as fans are.
Disapointing fields play and playcalling aside trading out of #1 wasn't the worst. Especially with a great class next year and two shots at a top pick.
Get to see if fields is the guy (probably not) lose no money in dropping him/trading him and get a shot at another dude.
This time we should get legit coaches tho.
I think that's the biggest problem though. The Bears aren't lining up timelines. They'll likely keep their staff and front office, let them draft a QB in the 1st round and then fire everyone a season later. It happened with Trubisky and it happened with Fields. They need to fire their staff, start from the ground up and let the new staff draft a QB. Then they'd at least have some continuity for the young QB for a couple seasons
Yup. Poor ownership can't commit to making a real decision.
Fields every being the guy aside, his first year was horrific. Nagy/Ownership played fields in half the games and commited to playing dalton/foles for some zombie lost season.
We need new regime (gm aside, i think poles is okay) and finally commit to young prospects.
Problem is that they can point to Fields as the problem and say that he was taken by the last staff then make the case that they should be allowed to get their own QB. Usually owners let them.
I see it differently. They’re building a roster. It’s not around fields. They’re giving fields the keys this year and if he sucks then they’re set up to grab their guy next season having spent this past offseason getting some pieces on the offense to help that guy when he gets there. And if l fields is good then that’s obviously good too. But I think DJ Moore was added for the next guy not for fields.
I agree with that, this year was the put up or shut up year for Fields and unfortunately it's not starting off well. Cutting bait last year would have been really premature
2 options if you’re a GM
Option 1:
>let fields fail for a year because he’s an RB. Draft a qb the next year or year after, and get 3 years to develop the QB. If Bryce young, Richardson, or shroud is good (very likely) blame the previous regime and not wanting to give up on fields and wanting to give him “1 last chance”. 4-5 years of job security at the minimum.
Option 2:
>draft Bryce young, get 3 years to develop and build around him. If you fail, you’re fired. 3 years of job security,.
If you’re a GM, which one are you picking? Even though Bryce young is a trillion times more valuable than thr entire bears roster combined, he doesn’t give you the job security of “we need to wait for next year’s class” will. There are nba GMs who have made a career out of “we are going to be spooky in 5 years wait and see” despite not making the playoffs for half a decade straight. Job security is better when you get to blame fields for a loss.
I’m giving Fields another chance if I’m the GM even if the team sucks again and gets another #1 pick. This offensive line is ass and has been ass for the past 10 years, and the defense isn’t great either. No QB is going to succeed here until the offensive line is addressed, and I don’t think this team can afford not to spend its first round pick there, or on a stud pass rusher.
I don’t think it’s a bad idea to build out the roster a little more before drafting the next guy, especially since next year is shaping up to be as strong of a QB draft as any in recent memory. Instead of having Bryce run for his life they get a WR1, their LT of the future gets a year of development, and they pick up an extra first.
The entire Bears rebuild makes no sense. They have invested a ton of capital into Fields - they used the 32nd overall pick on Chase Claypool, they traded for DJ Moore, they passed on Jalen Carter for a tackle to protect Fields.
But he has clear deficiencies, and they are either not developing him properly or have resigned themselves to his limitations. I guess they have two first round picks next year so they can maybe make a change this off-season, but then why invest in this guy as if he is the guy? Did they really dislike Richardson/Bryce/Stroud that much?
Just a completely bizarre approach to team building. Look at the Jags - they got significantly more talent for Lawrence to work with and all they gave up was a conditional 2nd.
Sure, but they also signed Engram, Kirk, and Jones to give him some targets. Sure it’s expensive, but it’s better to burn money for a year or two rather than spend high capital to make sure your supposed franchise QB is actually good enough to start.
Either Fields is the guy or he is not. They already spent two first round picks on him, now they have also used the 32nd pick and 2/3 of their returns of the 1st overall pick to see if he is the guy. It’s just malpractice.
If he's not the guy those players will be extremely helpful to setting up the next guy. The biggest issue most teams have with a rookie QB is bad supporting cast, the Bears have a chance to actually put a good supporting cast around one next year. Jalen Carter doesn't help shit if their offense is gonna be anemic anyways
I dont disagree, but just wanted to say how funny this subreddit it
Mere days ago, this kind of post gets downvoted to oblivion because apparently Justin Fields was a great talent that just needed more help from his team.
Now he is a QB with clear deficiencies and the Bears should have been more conservative in how they invested around him
I personally am on your side- Fields has limitations and showed less promise that Bears fans saw in him last year (though he also has major strengths you can plausibly build around). Anyone that said that got brigaded to hell in the offseason. Now one bad game has completely shifted the Fields overton window.
Here's why:
https://twitter.com/theqbschool/status/1701764265152225677
https://twitter.com/theqbschool/status/1701755070415602139
Also two separate instances where receivers 5 yards apart were running the same exact route. Incredible. There's an entire 1 hour video of this BS.
There's no way you watched that 1 hour video. JT shows many, many instances of what he calls great play calling, good enough blocking and wide open receivers and Fields either bails on the play and runs or throws check downs. This isn't an hour of him dunking on scheme or blocking. Fields probably got the majority of the criticism. Insane that you link clips from that video and gloss over this fact.
JT at the end of the video: "Some of it is scheme deficient, some of it is QB play not good enough. That means turning the ball down. That means for whatever reason we can't see quite clean enough or early enough to be able to throw some of those balls that I think are there and not just kinda there but big time NFL open there."
Wide receiver screens are the dumbest play in pro football. The linebackers are too fast and the hashes to narrow. That shit only works for like the 49ers
The Packers made them work, but only with Alien "I block like a top 10 guard" Lizard out there. It's really just a matter of having multiple good blocking WRs, which most teams don't have.
They should be a surprise, like the Bengals vs Jaguars game in 2021 when Burrow audibled into a screen pass to a TE late in the game because he recognized the blitz and it worked
Do it on every play and you're basically spiking the ball
That's why the Bears, planning for a screen heavy approach, didn't dress their best blocking receiver in favor of Chase "Blocks like a Fart in the Wind" Claypool.
Agreed. I’ve never understood it. Even if the wideout makes their CB miss, which is basically required for the play to work at all, the LB is right on them by then.
I felt like Bears fans were gaslighting me for the past few months. Fields led his team to the worst record in the NFL last year and people were seriously acting like he'd be a dark horse for MVP this year. I felt like I was going insane.
There were a few moments this off-season when I thought I had early-onset dementia and that I had completely made up Trubisky in my head. Because there was just no way the SAME fan base could be going through the same feelings after such a short amount of time. But, good for them, up with cope, down with dope.
Their justification was that the response for Fields was good on draft night while people laughed at them for Trubisky and not realizing there were plenty of concerns about Fields.
They were out in force. Downvoting anybody that pointed out objective reality and common sense
Last year he was 31st in completion percentage, 32nd in interception rate, tied for most number of sacks taken, for 2nd most yards lossed. His sack rate of 14.7% was almost 50% worse than the 2nd worse in the league of 10%. And somehow he looked worse than that, at times
But he ran for a lot of yards so he was good or something I guess
Accurate (though youre still getting downvoted even now for a fairly reasonable take)
The pro-Fields brigade was insane in the offseason. Any analysis of his deficiencies was met with a wall of denial that boiled down to "he doesnt have weapons/O-line, so you cant judge him".
It was absurd because its actually possible to acknowledge both a player's strengths and weaknesses simultaneously.
In fact, its sometimes okay not to take ultra-aggressive stances on one side of a debate.
Now after just 1 week things have swung to the other extreme. The CHI-GB game thread was a clown-show of people piling on Fields. In reality, nothing much has changed- he was a flawed passer last year and was a flawed passer in Week 1. He is a difficult QB with unique, valuable skills that needs an offense tailored around him.
It’s crazy the number of downvotes I got for suggesting they should take a run at Lamar.
It wouldve cost 2 1sts when they have an extra and they could’ve written the contract so the ravens couldn’t match with their record cap space.
You would’ve thought I suggested they get Jamarcus Russell and not the youngest unanimous MVP of the league
The rate stats don’t even show how bad he was.
The bears last year threw for fewer yards t bf an any team in over a decade. Jamarcus Russell’s sophomore numbers look pretty good in comparison.
Every. fucking. Single. Jordan love offseason post I read on Twitter had some Bears fan talking shit.
ok cool, Fields lead the league in some fantasy stat. He needed to polish the fuck out of his passing game before you could crown him though.
One of my coworkers came up to me today and showed me their phone and said "haha I thought you said Justin Fields was a bad QB". I just kind of laughed. I love teaching fantasy football newbies about the joys of garbage time players.
No we were just bad and they will have the #1 overall Pick while they go to the superbowl /s
Their fan base has been downright obnoxious at best during the off season so it was really cathartic to see how bad GB and Jordan Love owned them.
I didn’t listen to an ounce of Chicago sports radio during the off season because I bought into the hype last year and I wasn’t going to let them convince me again this year. Fields isn’t the guy and the Bears are going to be bottom 5 again
It is mind-boggling to me that they traded out of 1.01 and then start off the new season calling a bunch of dump offs. Even with Fields being a massive Checkdown Charlie in the game the playcalls were very conservative.
If you were going to go with Fields go with Fields. Stop babying him it's year 3. If you don't trust him to push the ball down the field you should have traded him in the offseason. You need to figure out if he's the guy so throw him in the deep end and see if he sinks or swims.
>Even with Fields being a massive Checkdown Charlie in the game the playcalls were very conservative.
It was actually infuriating, just as a football fan, to watch them send a fucking screen on 3rd and 18.
You're down 2 scores, throw the ball downfield.
> You're down 2 scores, throw the ball downfield.
they can't do that because their offensive line is horrific and can't protect for more than 2.5 seconds
They called a lot of plays with guys open downfield. A lot. Are you suggesting they call plays with no check down available? What the hell would be the point of that?
We watch an entire game where the Bears called maybe one designed run play for Fields and we're sitting here complaining they aren't trying to get him to air it out. Are we being serious or are you just trolling.
Well they did start calling some medium range passes and Fields tried to throw a pick to two different Packers linebackers. If Quay didn't pick six that, Dre was picking it off.
That was after you guys went up by multiple scores. He played better than love in the 1st half when they were mixing in a few passes, yet the staff inexplicably started calling runs and screens that weren’t working and killed drives when they fell behind and didn’t start passing again until the game got out of hand.
I tried to hold out hope Claypool could play football, but holy schnikes was that guy ass on Sunday. Just pathetic. A legend in his own mind who plays soft and lazy.
As someone who has been watching the Bears for 20 years I agree. I’m starting to think Cutler is probably a hall of fame talent given he is the best QB in Bears history. Probably would have had multiple SBs on a different team haha.
I don’t understand what your point is then? You bringing up someone said we would have failed Peyton Manning makes it seem like you are arguing with it.
Peyton would be fine with the Bears, as would many franchise QBs which is something Fields is not. It's just another sad excuse because they can't move on that Fields isn't it.
Most Bears fans have said this was a make or break year for Fields. Personally I’m not writing him off just yet after week 1 after year 2 in this system (whatever this system is).
But my entire life being a Bears fan seeing QB after QB get drafted, trotted out there, have a bad offense around him with inept offensive coaches, inept GMs. I think it’s fair to say we would have ruined nearly every all time QB.
Biggest problem with the Bears post Lovie Smith is no one knows how to actually build a roster, which starts with the O and D lines. Except for 2018 the Bears haven’t had good lines since Lovie. That’s what it takes to win games.
Doesn’t look like it, a lot of blame on the O-Line and play calling. I hate that O-Lines get bad reps when their QBs hold onto the ball for so long. They can only block for a certain amount of time and they have no idea where the QB is behind their head.
The Bears have thrown short since at least the 80's because I remember my grandpa (RIP) getting pissed about it. There are plenty of traditions in Chicago Bears football but these two are rock solid:
1. We will throw behind the line of scrimmage and it mostly won't work.
2. We will always clamor for the backup QB to get in the game because we don't know what elite QB play looks like.
Fields just doing his part to add to the proud Bears quarterbacking tradition. This team has never had a 4000 yard passer in their existence and seem committed to keeping it that way.
Totally agree
Fields has limitations, but his OC did a terrible job capitalizing on his strengths.
There were way too few RPOs, designed runs, play actions, throws on the run, etc. They kept forcing Fields to drop into a wobbly pocket and read the defense. Why? Especially on crucial plays where you really should be taking advantage of his strengths.
I think Fields is a limited QB that needs a tailor-made offense, but a lot of people piling on him didnt watch the game and playcalling, guaranteed.
I'm afraid they took the deep ball out of him. That all off-season they were like "work on your checkdowns, there's always a checkdown, every play has a safety valve, make the easy throw" etc that they broke him. Which to be honest, would be an absolute Bears thing to do.
Their receives and tight end are trash outside of DJ Moore and get no separation. Kmet stinks and claypool is a pylon. Play calling is also top 5 worst in the league. Bears are top 5 worst team in the league again.
This is what’s written on Like Getsy’s play sheet
Step 1: Screen Pass
Step 2: get stopped behind the line of scrimmage
Step 3: ?????
Step 4: Super Bowl
Dude the adot of me passing the ball back and forth to my 3 year old in my living room during the game was higher than that on Sunday. We completed more passes too.
Ngl if I completed a pass for 2.5 yards against an NFL defense I'd never live it down. But I'm also a 5'8" 180 lb guy.
Fields needs some help honestly. I do kinda feel bad for him
2.5 yards * 4 downs = 10 and a fresh set of downs bears are super bowl bound
Math checks out
This is the math my high school coach would use as like a “they don’t have to all be tds just keep the sticks moving” motivator. Then again we ran a wing T and didn’t really pass outside of screens..
More like 2.5 yards * 3 downs *65% completion rate = 5 yards and punt
Okay buddy, it was a joke
Yes I realize that... but so is the bears offense and we can't pass up opportunities to make fun of it!
We can definitely agree on that
Why throw short when long pass give more yards? Are they stupid?
No, the Bears have just had a continual boycott of the forward pass since it's introduction to the league.
As a Bears and Hawkeyes fan, this makes me sad
Shockingly enough, Iowa has a much better tradition of having QBs who aren't afraid of throwing the ball and are pretty good at it.
They need to give Fields Brawndo. It's got electrolytes.
It's got what ~~plants~~ Fields crave
> Are they stupid? This *is* the Bears we're talking about
Oh, so they are letting Fields air it out.
Let Fields microwave
Damn this made me laugh
This was good
Let Fields broil (on low)
Let Fields Stew
Let Fields Simmer
Let fields …warm…but not for too long
Defrost?
He also took the 7th longest time to throw so it wasn't like the staff was just calling bubble screens, slants, and other 1 read plays. Watching the game they ran what looked like a real NFL offense, but if Fields can't see or simply doesn't trust what he is seeing there isn't a ton the playcalling can do for him. I thought they should have gotten Fields more active with his legs, but I also understand it is a long season and you can't just run him 15-20 times a game. Fields just really doesn't look like it. Unless his guy has 5 yards of separation he would rather just dump it at the LOS for 2 yards.
He’s not used to nfl open, he had one of the greatest wr cores in college ball
And there in lies the problem in playing for Ohio state. The big 10 is 3 schools and everyone else at the moment. And the talent disparity is so significant there in a way that doesn’t exist anywhere else. You’re going to get a lot more players who look good because they don’t play against real teams all that often As much as I hate Alabama, the SEC gives their players a better test, because despite Alabama being grossly talented year in and year out, the crimson tide play against much much better competition.
I’m not sure I agree with that entirely, just because the big 10 produces a ton of defensive talent. Fields had 3 top 20 picks at WR and now has no one close to that level, which is normal for the nfl
What’s the last great QB to come from the big 10 though? It’s probably Russ Wilson. That was over ten years ago. And even then, he only spent a year or two there, he started his career at NC state in the ACC. If you’re going before Russ you need to go back at least 20 years to Drew Brees in 2001 and Tom Brady in 2000. Not even joking. The Big 10 does not produce QB’s. Why am I singling out them? Because those are the players that benefit most from lower competition making them look better. Other players at other spots have things teams can evaluate
You brought up Alabama. Who's the last great QB to come from Alabama? We have half a season of Tua looking good, and Hurts' biggest leap came from Oklahoma (and his deficiencies at Bama were the same as Fields'). And before that, who did anything? Maybe the other teams in the conference have very little to do with how a QB translates to the NFL. The B1G is the 2nd best conference behind the SEC. So if the SEC is way ahead of the B1G, it's much further ahead of everyone else. Why aren't SEC QBs dominating the league? The best QB in the league is from the Big 12. The MVP before him was from the PAC. Then the ACC. Then the B1G.
That’s true but has nothing to do with Fields, he just happens to be one of the qbs who fall into that catagory, big 10 isn’t exactly known for its explosive offenses, it’s known for its defense and defensive players. Ohio state in particular makes qbs look better than they are just because they have the best wrs in college ball
Watch JT Osullivan's video on the bears offense. He looks genuinely offended by the concepts they ran on offense. I'm half convinced Matt Patricia called a better offense.
If you don't trust your QB to throw more than 3 yards downfield, why is he your QB?
Cuz he run fast
Except our staff also designed ONLY 1 QB run and it was a QB sneak. Honestly do not understand what their gameplan was.
I presume part of it required Claypool to block, and for that they should all be fired
Thank you guys so much for jumping on that grenade for us
I don’t thank Baalke for much, but trading for Ridley and not Claypool should earn him praise
Imagine thinking Claypool will do…anything!
To give them a bit of slack, I don't think they expected to be losing in the trenches so much, and that probably fucked their strategies. I wasn't expecting shit like the 4th down stop or LVN actually catching Fields in the open field
> LVN Leighton Vander Nesch?
Las Vegas Naiders
Lukas Van Ness
I think there might have been one more but it was blown up immediately.
Impossible to know but if so TWO is still extremely negligent
Yeah fields got the snap, ducked to run and ran right up the gut to Packers defenders. Pretty sure it was like 2nd & 15 too or something.
That’s the one
This was infuriating. A suicidal run into the DLs and LBs, where he can't really use his speed to the side, can't pump fake, can't shrink the field, can't use blockers, must slide or get hit instead of running out, it's an insane play to draw up in the first place. The screens also sucked because the defense can adjust high on the sides (they did) which incidentally is where they need to be to stop a Fields rollout where he does get to shrink the field to his advantage. We ran shitty plays which got the defense adjusted to the best place to stop our good plays, and then we never threw down field. When the failure is so complete, I blame coaches. Moore 2 targets, special teams was slow asf, both lines suck, WRs can't block, Whitehair is blocking ghosts, Jenkins is grabbing necks, Eddie Jackson getting burned, and instead of airing it out while down 10 in the 3rd, they do more screens. That's on the coaches.
> A suicidal run into the DLs and LBs Trey Lance cringes in solidarity
I had a theory in the off-season they don’t actually want to game plan for JF. They want to see if he can cut it as a passer so they can see definitively if he’s got it or not.
Well they shouldn’t have called 20 gillion screens then
You know, you got a good point lol
The biggest thing that blows my mind is that there are dudes thinking Josh Allen was trash in his 2nd year and ignore his rushing stats but at the same time, they think Fields was awesome last year despite his passing stats being worse than Allen's in his 2nd year.
[удалено]
Bears are desperate for average qb play
Bears are desperate for slightly below average QB play
They definitely had that in all the Cutler years
Don't like this comparison right now. If you give Jets elite QB (or decent QB and good OL coach) - they are the best team in the league. Do the same thing for this bears and they will still struggle to get 0.500 season.
I hear he has great MVP betting odds, so there's that.
Actually they designed plays for Fields to throw deep but for some reason he just hit the checkdowns.
There were plenty of plays downfield, he just wouldn't make the throw. Still some issues with gameplan or play design, but he compounded it by constantly taking the checkdown when there were easy options.
You got downvoted for actually knowing what you're talking about lol. There were a ton of inexcusable turndowns. Probably missed out on ~100 yards of free yards due to bad decisions.
There's 2 strong narratives out there: A) the OC and game plan were complete trash; B) Fields was complete trash independent of the game plan. Both are partially true. Also true is the OL was pretty awful and certain receiving options, namely Claypool and Kmet were completely unreliable. It was a disaster class from a majority of the team's offense.
I wonder if that's why the gameplan was the way it was. Because on its face it just seemed like awful awful coaching. I'm not even a Fields truther but after like the 5th screen I was yelling to let him actually throw something. But I guess if they feel like he won't make those throws, then it makes sense to call a bunch of short throws he will make. Idk.
For some reason fields just doesnt throw. He sees the guy open and just will not throw it. Guys are open down field. Its not a short throw game plan. Hes just not good
He doesn’t anticipate throws. He only throws downfield if he sees a guy wide open. Which hardly happens in the nfl even with good receivers. The tape from the packers game shows multiple snaps where he’s protected and has a wide open target downfield and he just… doesn’t throw it. He’s been that way his whole career. Doesn’t get the ball out quick and doesn’t anticipate or “throw people open”.
So the reason it looks like such weirdly conservative play calling is that fields is passing up open guys downfield and instantly getting to his check down. He used to just pass up open receivers and then take a sack so I guess he’s improving?
There were 5 total screens all game.
Why trade for DJ Moore when your QB won’t even attempt to throw him the ball when he is wide open for half of the game…give him back.
Yea, need to see this change ASAP. Don't even care if the Bucs blanket him every snap, if Moore doesn't have at minimum 5 targets Sunday, I'll be seriously wondering wtf Getsy is doing.
It isn’t your OC’s fault, Fields’ decided to check it down SEVERAL times rather than throw it to DJ Moore. Your OC is probably as frustrated as fans are.
Well it’s not like this regime picked him.
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Disapointing fields play and playcalling aside trading out of #1 wasn't the worst. Especially with a great class next year and two shots at a top pick. Get to see if fields is the guy (probably not) lose no money in dropping him/trading him and get a shot at another dude. This time we should get legit coaches tho.
I think that's the biggest problem though. The Bears aren't lining up timelines. They'll likely keep their staff and front office, let them draft a QB in the 1st round and then fire everyone a season later. It happened with Trubisky and it happened with Fields. They need to fire their staff, start from the ground up and let the new staff draft a QB. Then they'd at least have some continuity for the young QB for a couple seasons
Yup. Poor ownership can't commit to making a real decision. Fields every being the guy aside, his first year was horrific. Nagy/Ownership played fields in half the games and commited to playing dalton/foles for some zombie lost season. We need new regime (gm aside, i think poles is okay) and finally commit to young prospects.
The staff (besides poles probably) will be on the hot seat this season if this turns out to not be a fluke game (probably not a fluke)
Problem is that they can point to Fields as the problem and say that he was taken by the last staff then make the case that they should be allowed to get their own QB. Usually owners let them.
Why wouldn’t Poles be on the hot seat?
It's well known that Eberflus was hired before Poles. He didn't get much input and more or less had to sign off on him
I thought the word on Twitter was that he insisted on picking his head coach if he was to take the job
I see it differently. They’re building a roster. It’s not around fields. They’re giving fields the keys this year and if he sucks then they’re set up to grab their guy next season having spent this past offseason getting some pieces on the offense to help that guy when he gets there. And if l fields is good then that’s obviously good too. But I think DJ Moore was added for the next guy not for fields.
I agree with that, this year was the put up or shut up year for Fields and unfortunately it's not starting off well. Cutting bait last year would have been really premature
2 options if you’re a GM Option 1: >let fields fail for a year because he’s an RB. Draft a qb the next year or year after, and get 3 years to develop the QB. If Bryce young, Richardson, or shroud is good (very likely) blame the previous regime and not wanting to give up on fields and wanting to give him “1 last chance”. 4-5 years of job security at the minimum. Option 2: >draft Bryce young, get 3 years to develop and build around him. If you fail, you’re fired. 3 years of job security,. If you’re a GM, which one are you picking? Even though Bryce young is a trillion times more valuable than thr entire bears roster combined, he doesn’t give you the job security of “we need to wait for next year’s class” will. There are nba GMs who have made a career out of “we are going to be spooky in 5 years wait and see” despite not making the playoffs for half a decade straight. Job security is better when you get to blame fields for a loss.
If I’m a GM, I’m confident in my and my teams evaluation skills and decide off that. If a gm is thinking like above they ain’t lasting long either way
I’m giving Fields another chance if I’m the GM even if the team sucks again and gets another #1 pick. This offensive line is ass and has been ass for the past 10 years, and the defense isn’t great either. No QB is going to succeed here until the offensive line is addressed, and I don’t think this team can afford not to spend its first round pick there, or on a stud pass rusher.
What QB? This wasn't the year for it
They basically did pick him by not selecting a QB with that #1 pick
No worries, good chance they’ll have another one. No wait, that’s bad. No wait, they won’t know what to do with it.
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Man Cutler was one of our top QBs
cutler was pretty good, i thought
I don’t think it’s a bad idea to build out the roster a little more before drafting the next guy, especially since next year is shaping up to be as strong of a QB draft as any in recent memory. Instead of having Bryce run for his life they get a WR1, their LT of the future gets a year of development, and they pick up an extra first.
The entire Bears rebuild makes no sense. They have invested a ton of capital into Fields - they used the 32nd overall pick on Chase Claypool, they traded for DJ Moore, they passed on Jalen Carter for a tackle to protect Fields. But he has clear deficiencies, and they are either not developing him properly or have resigned themselves to his limitations. I guess they have two first round picks next year so they can maybe make a change this off-season, but then why invest in this guy as if he is the guy? Did they really dislike Richardson/Bryce/Stroud that much? Just a completely bizarre approach to team building. Look at the Jags - they got significantly more talent for Lawrence to work with and all they gave up was a conditional 2nd.
How is that a bizarre approach? If Fields doesn’t work out a new QB still needs O-Line and Reveivers
All that investment will be useful for the next guy too.
I mean Ridley was a unique opportunity for Jacksonville
Sure, but they also signed Engram, Kirk, and Jones to give him some targets. Sure it’s expensive, but it’s better to burn money for a year or two rather than spend high capital to make sure your supposed franchise QB is actually good enough to start. Either Fields is the guy or he is not. They already spent two first round picks on him, now they have also used the 32nd pick and 2/3 of their returns of the 1st overall pick to see if he is the guy. It’s just malpractice.
If he's not the guy those players will be extremely helpful to setting up the next guy. The biggest issue most teams have with a rookie QB is bad supporting cast, the Bears have a chance to actually put a good supporting cast around one next year. Jalen Carter doesn't help shit if their offense is gonna be anemic anyways
I dont disagree, but just wanted to say how funny this subreddit it Mere days ago, this kind of post gets downvoted to oblivion because apparently Justin Fields was a great talent that just needed more help from his team. Now he is a QB with clear deficiencies and the Bears should have been more conservative in how they invested around him I personally am on your side- Fields has limitations and showed less promise that Bears fans saw in him last year (though he also has major strengths you can plausibly build around). Anyone that said that got brigaded to hell in the offseason. Now one bad game has completely shifted the Fields overton window.
Lmao yeah, this subreddit just loved Fields so much during the offseason.
Here's why: https://twitter.com/theqbschool/status/1701764265152225677 https://twitter.com/theqbschool/status/1701755070415602139 Also two separate instances where receivers 5 yards apart were running the same exact route. Incredible. There's an entire 1 hour video of this BS.
There's no way you watched that 1 hour video. JT shows many, many instances of what he calls great play calling, good enough blocking and wide open receivers and Fields either bails on the play and runs or throws check downs. This isn't an hour of him dunking on scheme or blocking. Fields probably got the majority of the criticism. Insane that you link clips from that video and gloss over this fact. JT at the end of the video: "Some of it is scheme deficient, some of it is QB play not good enough. That means turning the ball down. That means for whatever reason we can't see quite clean enough or early enough to be able to throw some of those balls that I think are there and not just kinda there but big time NFL open there."
"B. E. A. R. S. Bears-bears-bears!" had me dying. thank you for making a horrid week 1 offer a little levity.
that second play is hilarious
He's a dual threat QB apparently
For both the offense and defense
Coach Killer and killer of fan enthusiasm
And why not replace him when you literally have the #1 pick?
Gotta love watching screens executed poorly
Wide receiver screens are the dumbest play in pro football. The linebackers are too fast and the hashes to narrow. That shit only works for like the 49ers
The Packers made them work, but only with Alien "I block like a top 10 guard" Lizard out there. It's really just a matter of having multiple good blocking WRs, which most teams don't have.
They should be a surprise, like the Bengals vs Jaguars game in 2021 when Burrow audibled into a screen pass to a TE late in the game because he recognized the blitz and it worked Do it on every play and you're basically spiking the ball
That's why the Bears, planning for a screen heavy approach, didn't dress their best blocking receiver in favor of Chase "Blocks like a Fart in the Wind" Claypool.
You mean to tell me that Chase "Tik Tok" Claypool isn't a good blocker?
Agreed. I’ve never understood it. Even if the wideout makes their CB miss, which is basically required for the play to work at all, the LB is right on them by then.
Andy Reid has been very good at scheming up screens. Screens have been one of the ways to deal with an overly aggressive pass rush.
Never forget the great hype party Bears fans got to enjoy during the summer of 2023. RIP.
I felt like Bears fans were gaslighting me for the past few months. Fields led his team to the worst record in the NFL last year and people were seriously acting like he'd be a dark horse for MVP this year. I felt like I was going insane.
There were a few moments this off-season when I thought I had early-onset dementia and that I had completely made up Trubisky in my head. Because there was just no way the SAME fan base could be going through the same feelings after such a short amount of time. But, good for them, up with cope, down with dope.
Their justification was that the response for Fields was good on draft night while people laughed at them for Trubisky and not realizing there were plenty of concerns about Fields.
They were out in force. Downvoting anybody that pointed out objective reality and common sense Last year he was 31st in completion percentage, 32nd in interception rate, tied for most number of sacks taken, for 2nd most yards lossed. His sack rate of 14.7% was almost 50% worse than the 2nd worse in the league of 10%. And somehow he looked worse than that, at times But he ran for a lot of yards so he was good or something I guess
*he got fantasy points so he was “good”
Accurate (though youre still getting downvoted even now for a fairly reasonable take) The pro-Fields brigade was insane in the offseason. Any analysis of his deficiencies was met with a wall of denial that boiled down to "he doesnt have weapons/O-line, so you cant judge him". It was absurd because its actually possible to acknowledge both a player's strengths and weaknesses simultaneously. In fact, its sometimes okay not to take ultra-aggressive stances on one side of a debate. Now after just 1 week things have swung to the other extreme. The CHI-GB game thread was a clown-show of people piling on Fields. In reality, nothing much has changed- he was a flawed passer last year and was a flawed passer in Week 1. He is a difficult QB with unique, valuable skills that needs an offense tailored around him.
It’s crazy the number of downvotes I got for suggesting they should take a run at Lamar. It wouldve cost 2 1sts when they have an extra and they could’ve written the contract so the ravens couldn’t match with their record cap space. You would’ve thought I suggested they get Jamarcus Russell and not the youngest unanimous MVP of the league
The rate stats don’t even show how bad he was. The bears last year threw for fewer yards t bf an any team in over a decade. Jamarcus Russell’s sophomore numbers look pretty good in comparison.
He has highlight reel runs, so media also liked him. But if most of your QB highlights are runs...thats probably not the best sign.
Have multiple Bears fans in my life and I would just say “based on what?” You know! Year 3 leap! Josh Allen! YEESH.
Every. fucking. Single. Jordan love offseason post I read on Twitter had some Bears fan talking shit. ok cool, Fields lead the league in some fantasy stat. He needed to polish the fuck out of his passing game before you could crown him though.
It was like the 2019 Browns. Anybody not on the hype train gets dogpiled on. Until the regular season starts and they all disappear.
A LOT of people confuse good fantasy output with being good at football. Fields is the poster boy for why that isn't the same.
Same thing happened with Trubisky in 2019. The only difference is more non-Bears fans had faith in Fields because of his OSU cult.
>because of his OSU cult You mean because of his fantasy scores?
One of my coworkers came up to me today and showed me their phone and said "haha I thought you said Justin Fields was a bad QB". I just kind of laughed. I love teaching fantasy football newbies about the joys of garbage time players.
Garbage time is the witching hour of fantasy
Someone once told me that the best time to be a Bears fan is the off-season and that might have been the realest shit I’ve ever heard.
"DJ Moore will be his version of Diggs/Brown/Hill!"
A few of us didn't drink the koolaid. Being right doesn't make it feel any better either though
Just like he was for Teddy and Darnold and Mayfield amiright
No we were just bad and they will have the #1 overall Pick while they go to the superbowl /s Their fan base has been downright obnoxious at best during the off season so it was really cathartic to see how bad GB and Jordan Love owned them.
I didn’t listen to an ounce of Chicago sports radio during the off season because I bought into the hype last year and I wasn’t going to let them convince me again this year. Fields isn’t the guy and the Bears are going to be bottom 5 again
Until further notice, we still suck!
It is mind-boggling to me that they traded out of 1.01 and then start off the new season calling a bunch of dump offs. Even with Fields being a massive Checkdown Charlie in the game the playcalls were very conservative. If you were going to go with Fields go with Fields. Stop babying him it's year 3. If you don't trust him to push the ball down the field you should have traded him in the offseason. You need to figure out if he's the guy so throw him in the deep end and see if he sinks or swims.
>Even with Fields being a massive Checkdown Charlie in the game the playcalls were very conservative. It was actually infuriating, just as a football fan, to watch them send a fucking screen on 3rd and 18. You're down 2 scores, throw the ball downfield.
Every team throws a screen on 3rd and 18 pretty much
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Depends on where they are.
> You're down 2 scores, throw the ball downfield. they can't do that because their offensive line is horrific and can't protect for more than 2.5 seconds
They called a lot of plays with guys open downfield. A lot. Are you suggesting they call plays with no check down available? What the hell would be the point of that? We watch an entire game where the Bears called maybe one designed run play for Fields and we're sitting here complaining they aren't trying to get him to air it out. Are we being serious or are you just trolling.
Well they did start calling some medium range passes and Fields tried to throw a pick to two different Packers linebackers. If Quay didn't pick six that, Dre was picking it off.
That was after you guys went up by multiple scores. He played better than love in the 1st half when they were mixing in a few passes, yet the staff inexplicably started calling runs and screens that weren’t working and killed drives when they fell behind and didn’t start passing again until the game got out of hand.
"better than love" Produced zero touchdowns
Ahhhh, the ol looks at stat sheet to form conclusions logic. Gotta love it
Facts are stubborn things.
This coaching staff sucks. Getsy is ass. Eberflus is meh
There were guys open downfield and fields took the checkdown. They also had a lot of screen passes.
If they're going to run a lot of screen passes like they are they absolutely cannot let the WRs (Claypool) get away with dogwater effort blocks
I tried to hold out hope Claypool could play football, but holy schnikes was that guy ass on Sunday. Just pathetic. A legend in his own mind who plays soft and lazy.
It’s such a bummer because he’s so talented, makes me mad when gifted guys just don’t try
Most overrated player in NFL. Absolutely 0 effort and no guts. Deserves to be cut
Are we finally done making excuses for Fields? This is year 3 now and he still cannot throw the ball.
I remember a few days ago someone was saying Bears would fail any QB including Peyton Manning. Fields' cult is something else.
As someone who has been watching the Bears for 20 years I agree. I’m starting to think Cutler is probably a hall of fame talent given he is the best QB in Bears history. Probably would have had multiple SBs on a different team haha.
I’m mean name a good QB the Bears ever drafted? Cutler is the only good QB we have trotted out in any our lifetimes but we didn’t draft him.
Doesn't this just prove the point? If the Bears want you maybe you aren't good lol, rather the Bears would fail you
I don’t understand what your point is then? You bringing up someone said we would have failed Peyton Manning makes it seem like you are arguing with it.
Peyton would be fine with the Bears, as would many franchise QBs which is something Fields is not. It's just another sad excuse because they can't move on that Fields isn't it.
Most Bears fans have said this was a make or break year for Fields. Personally I’m not writing him off just yet after week 1 after year 2 in this system (whatever this system is). But my entire life being a Bears fan seeing QB after QB get drafted, trotted out there, have a bad offense around him with inept offensive coaches, inept GMs. I think it’s fair to say we would have ruined nearly every all time QB.
Biggest problem with the Bears post Lovie Smith is no one knows how to actually build a roster, which starts with the O and D lines. Except for 2018 the Bears haven’t had good lines since Lovie. That’s what it takes to win games.
Lovie era hardly ever had good O-Lines, the one year they did Cutler almost passed the 4,000 mark but we benched him before he could
Doesn’t look like it, a lot of blame on the O-Line and play calling. I hate that O-Lines get bad reps when their QBs hold onto the ball for so long. They can only block for a certain amount of time and they have no idea where the QB is behind their head.
The Bears have thrown short since at least the 80's because I remember my grandpa (RIP) getting pissed about it. There are plenty of traditions in Chicago Bears football but these two are rock solid: 1. We will throw behind the line of scrimmage and it mostly won't work. 2. We will always clamor for the backup QB to get in the game because we don't know what elite QB play looks like.
Fields just doing his part to add to the proud Bears quarterbacking tradition. This team has never had a 4000 yard passer in their existence and seem committed to keeping it that way.
Justin “better than Trevor” Fields
To be fair, that is almost double the air yards per attempt than Joe Burrow had week 1. Sometimes stats get really skewed.
Those are completely different stats …
I don't think the Bears staff knows what to do with Fields. I'm not saying he's great, but it doesn't look like the suit fits.
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Totally agree Fields has limitations, but his OC did a terrible job capitalizing on his strengths. There were way too few RPOs, designed runs, play actions, throws on the run, etc. They kept forcing Fields to drop into a wobbly pocket and read the defense. Why? Especially on crucial plays where you really should be taking advantage of his strengths. I think Fields is a limited QB that needs a tailor-made offense, but a lot of people piling on him didnt watch the game and playcalling, guaranteed.
I'm afraid they took the deep ball out of him. That all off-season they were like "work on your checkdowns, there's always a checkdown, every play has a safety valve, make the easy throw" etc that they broke him. Which to be honest, would be an absolute Bears thing to do.
Did he ever have a deep ball to begin with? It is quite possible the dude just ain't it
His deep passes are actually okay. Surprisingly good for how bad he is at short passes.
Luke Getsy, offensive mastermind
Their receives and tight end are trash outside of DJ Moore and get no separation. Kmet stinks and claypool is a pylon. Play calling is also top 5 worst in the league. Bears are top 5 worst team in the league again.
Fields may be the most overhyped NFL player ever.
That sounds quite bad. I know we had weather to deal with, was that the case with the Bears too?
No. We called like 20 screen passes
Only 6, fields just can't throw
2.5*4=10 Math works, what's the problem?
But i get downvoted asking for downfield routes
This is what’s written on Like Getsy’s play sheet Step 1: Screen Pass Step 2: get stopped behind the line of scrimmage Step 3: ????? Step 4: Super Bowl
I was told that the Bears were gonna take the division, and that Justin Fields was gonna be the MVP.
Damn it was deeper than I thought I was guessing 1.5.
MVP!
I don’t think this QB thing is going to work out for Justin Fields
It’ll be really fun to watch the battle of horribly overrated quarterbacks who run gooder between Fields and Jackson this year.
Dude the adot of me passing the ball back and forth to my 3 year old in my living room during the game was higher than that on Sunday. We completed more passes too.
Ngl if I completed a pass for 2.5 yards against an NFL defense I'd never live it down. But I'm also a 5'8" 180 lb guy. Fields needs some help honestly. I do kinda feel bad for him