Justin Fields shines, defense dulls for Chicago Bears in loss to Dolphins
It looks as if the 2021 NFL Draft QB Class was incorrectly drafted. Trevor Lawrence may have gone 1st, but Justin Fields might be the best of the bunch.
That said, he and the Chicago Bears got robbed. Let that be known; they got robbed against the Miami Dolphins. 35-32 is the final score, but all we can go back to is the horrible call. Blatantly obvious and, frankly, embarrassing that the official was right there and knew it was a bad call and swallowed his whistle. How bad is that?
This ruined the excellent performance of Fields. 123 yards passing with three touchdowns, along with 178 yards rushing and a massive rushing touchdown that had Soldier Field rocking.
All of that goes to waste because of what transpired at the end of the game. However, let’s not only focus on that one play. Defensively, this was as bad as the Marc Trestman-era defenses that the Bears ran. They could not cover Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle, which explains the 302 passing yards by Tua Tagovailoa.
A couple of late-game stops helped, but the offense lost out when they could least afford to. The same thing happened with special teams. The blocked punt for a touchdown early in the game looms large as the play ultimately hurt in the loss.
The Chicago Bears got screwed, but at least they know they have their guy at the quarterback position in Justin Fields.
General Manager Ryan Poles had to be watching this game and taking notes on two things. The Bears need more help on the offensive line, and by god, they need help on the defensive line. That’s where the money is going this off-season.
The Bears must retain the good players on their roster right now with safe extensions and use the remaining cap space and draft picks to beef up the trenches and add other weapons and pieces. That said, one thing was made clear, Chicago may finally have a quarterback they can build around in Justin Fields.
That said, let’s not break out the anointing oil just yet. Under 150 yards passing is not good. Yes, running for 178 yards and setting an NFL record is beautiful, and being responsible for all the points scored in this kind of game is excellent. But unless he adds more to his throwing arsenal with weapons and protection, it will not be sustainable long-term.
Still, you must look at this and tell yourself that Justin Fields can be the guy. He still has a long way to go, and this team is far from complete. OL, DL, and WR must be the priorities this offseason, or else the Bears are going nowhere. If they want to add another CB to the room, that’s fine, but not at the expense of the other three positions of need listed above.