Chicago Bears: Justin Fields actually played better than the results show

In the Chicago Bears’ Week 2 victory, Justin Fields had to take over at quarterback after Andy Dalton got injured. While many, including Fields himself, felt he didn’t do well, he didn’t actually have a bad game.

The Chicago Bears got their first win of the 2021 season in Week 2, beating the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-17. The fans finally got to see what they wanted when rookie quarterback Justin Fields took over as QB1. The starter, Andy Dalton, suffered a knee injury and couldn’t continue.

Fields had his ups and downs. He finished the game completing just six of his 13 pass attempts for 60 yards and an interception. He added 31 yards on 10 carries. Many people, including Fields himself, didn’t feel it was a good game.

Looking deeper, however, one could argue that his game wasn’t bad. Sure, he made some rookie mistakes. He got duped by Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson into throwing an interception. There was also a critical false start on the Bengals’ five-yard line. There was also a lot of good that we saw.

Let’s take that closer look at Fields, shall we? On that interception, it was a great play by Wilson. He showed blitz then dropped in coverage. This is something that a quarterback would be able to see with experience and game film. As the backup, FIelds spends the week as the scout quarterback. His responsibility is to show the Chicago Bears defense what the opposing offense wants to do. As a starter, he’d go over all the game films that Dalton did.

On the false start, Fields and center Sam Mustipher had a communication problem. Fields was moving back anticipating the snap. Again, this is something the two work out during practice. This is new for both of them. Additionally, FIelds has a different cadence than Dalton so the other players have to get used to that as well.

Now let’s talk about the rapport between the starting receivers and Fields. With FIelds not taking reps with the starters during the week, he and the receivers aren’t always on the same page. The receivers need time to get to know how Fields throws the ball. Furthermore, FIelds needs to get to know how the receivers run their routes and where they like the ball thrown to them.

We saw how the rapport wasn’t there on several throws. There was a deep throw to Darnell Mooney that Mooney wasn’t able to handle. He did, however, make a great 21-yard throw that Mooney caught.

Fields had some adjustments to make with Allen Robinson as well. He had a perfectly thrown 35-yard pass into the end zone that Robinson missed. He did come back and complete a nice 11-yard pass. On a third-and-goal from the Bengals 10-yard line, he went to Robinson. It looked like he held onto the ball a little too long.

You look at the stats and you see FIelds completed fewer passes than he missed. That’s bad, right? But looking at it closer, there were a couple of drops, including a big likely touchdown deep. There was also a nice pass completed to tight end Cole Kmet that was wiped out due to a pass interference penalty. That was a 13-yard completion on third down. Instead of moving the chains, the Bears ended up having to punt.

That’s three touchdown passes that Fields could have had. If those touchdowns happened, then the NFL world would be crowning FIelds the next great quarterback instead of wondering why Fields looked ordinary.

One thing that we witnessed with Fields was how he played under pressure. He didn’t look lost on the field with extended plays. As mentioned, he made some great throws that weren’t caught or were wiped out because of penalties.

Fields was not overwhelmed. That included the play in which he fumbled the ball. He could have just stayed on the ground and sulked. Instead, he had the presence of mind to reach out and get the ball back and prevent the Bengals from getting a scoop and score. If Fields doesn’t make that play, the Bears likely lose the game.

Also, on the Bears’ final drive, Fields got a crucial third-down conversion that basically sealed the game. If he doesn’t get the first down, the Bears punt the ball back to a Bengals offense that had momentum on their side after scoring touchdowns on two straight drives.

Fields’ teammates also notice how his confidence and calmness come through. This is what left tackle Jason Peters said about the rookie, per Bears Wire:

"He’s very confident, so when he calls a play you just want to make sure you do your job because you definitely believe in the kid that he’s going to make a play for you. And most of the time he does."

We have to remember that the game plan was set for Dalton’s skillsets, not Fields’. The Bears had just a couple of sub-packages for the rookie. Before we say that FIelds isn’t ready, let’s see how he does when he practices with the starters and has a full game plan prepared for him.