In his last two games, we’ve seen Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields greatly improve. As he plays better, his confidence soars.
When the Chicago Bears pulled off the trade that allowed them to draft Justin Fields with the 11th pick in this year’s draft, all of their fans went wild. After a century of a long list of mediocre quarterbacks, they felt the team finally found their franchise guy. They felt that Fields would be the face of the franchise for over a decade to come.
Well, he’s had some bumps on the road to the Hall of Fame. There was the game in which the Cleveland Browns sacked him nine times. Then there were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who harassed him to five turnovers.
He seems to have turned a corner, however. The last two games have been his best. He looks more decisive in the pocket. Despite still having to drop back too many times, he has a better feel for the pressure. Earlier, he’d try to make a big play with his arm even when under a lot of pressure. That opened him up to fumbles when he got hit, or interceptions on bad throws.
Fields looks different in the past two weeks
Now, though, he feels the pressure and instead of forcing something he’ll tuck the ball and run. He made some big plays with his legs. He extended drives by running.
We’ve also seen him be on the same page with his receivers. As we all know, Fields received no reps with the starters during training camp. When he had to come in during the season, he had no chemistry. He didn’t understand how the receivers wanted the passes thrown and his receivers didn’t know how FIelds threw the ball. There were a lot of missed opportunities as a result.
Now we see Fields connect with his receivers. Allen Robinson is in the midst of one of the worst seasons in his career. There was much speculation about the Bears trading him at the deadline. They didn’t, however, and we know he’ll be with Chicago at least through the end of the season.
As a result, we saw a more concerted effort to get Robinson more involved in Week 9. He caught four passes for 68 yards. The yardage was the most for him this season. Additionally, his 17 yards per reception in the game was also his highest this season.
We also saw Fields go to the tight ends. Cole Kmet had 19 catches for 173 yards in the first seven games of the season. in the past two, he has nine catches for 111 yards.
With the bye week, expect more from Fields.
Around FPC
NFL: NFL 2021: Five Key Statistics for Week 10
NFL: Patriots Very Much Alive In AFC East Race
- Ep. 197: Fields to Pittsburgh, Still Available Free Agentsby Full Press Coverage on March 18, 2024 at 8:00 pm
NHL: Fantasy Hockey Turkeys: Donuts For Goals
Wrestling: AEW Full Gear 2021 Predictions
PODCAST: The Eye Test For Two – Ep 80: Seth Wickersham Joins To Talk Brady, Patriots, and More
Fields confidence soars
As Fields improves, we see his confidence soaring. That’s not to say that he wasn’t confident before. He’s always confident in his abilities. However, he also had to balance his confidence with deference to other players and teams in the league. He didn’t want to seem too cocky.
That goes out the window now, though. He’s showing his leadership skills more and more. He’s talking more about how much better the Chicago Bears will be.
Ironically, after the Tampa Bay game, Fields spoke about how he felt the offense ready to break out soon. They aren’t on Tom Brady and the Bucs’ level, but after he said that they averaged 24.5 points per game. In their previous seven games, they averaged just 14.5 points. Baby steps.
Now, Fields is taking shots at big targets. Before their Week 6 matchup against the hated Green Bay Packers, Fields was almost reverential when talking about the Packers and Aaron Rodgers. Now, however, he’s speaking up. He said recently that the Chicago Bears are going to take the advantage back in the oldest rivalry in sports. The end of Green Bay’s dominance is nearing an end, according to Fields.
Justin Fields on the #Packers recent domination of the #Bears:
“Just know it will be back on our side very soon. Sooner than later for sure.”
— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) November 12, 2021
This is what you want to hear from your franchise quarterback. How can his teammates not want to run through walls for this guy? Remember, this is the same guy who, before he even started training camp, said he was made for the spotlight and that he was built for it. He’s sure showing it.
No, the wins still haven’t come, but eventually, they will. When that happens, it will be rocking at Soldier FIeld once again.