Justin Fields Walks Back Comments About Role of Bears’ Coaching in Early Struggles

The young quarterback said his comments were taken out of context.

The drama within the Bears organization doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Amid the team’s 0–2 start to the season, quarterback Justin Fields has been harshly criticized for his play. When talking to reporters Wednesday, he appeared to blame coaching as part of the reason for his struggles. 

Just hours later, he walked back those same comments and said they were taken out of context. 

“When you take my quote out of context, and when you just say that, if you paint the picture on the inside out, y’all are trying to split us up at the seams,” he told reporters. “I’m not blaming anything on the coaches. I’m never gonna blame anything on the coaches, I’m never gonna blame anything on my teammates.”

Fields emphatically said fans would “never” hear him blame his coaches or his teammates but his own comments from earlier appear to contradict that.  

Justin Fields wanted to speak to the media again inside the locker room following his comments on #Bears coaching earlier. @GNSportsTV @WGNTV pic.twitter.com/vG2kU3QDGb

— Kaitlin Sharkey (@KRoseSharkey) September 20, 2023

Earlier Wednesday, Fields was addressing his performance during the team’s 27–17 loss to the Buccaneers in Week 2 and said he was thinking too much while on the field and was playing “robotic.” He went on to say that he plays better when thinking less and playing off of instinct. A reporter then asked him, “When you say thinking less, what do you think was causing you to think so much?”

“Could be coaching,” he answered. “They’re doing their job when they’re giving me what to look at, stuff like that. But at the end of the day, I can’t be thinking about that when the game comes.”

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.

Fields opened up... https://t.co/18iViHWfoj pic.twitter.com/37ocE7e7zQ

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 20, 2023

Following his answer, another reporter said, “We’ve heard this before from other athletes. [Are] there just too many coaching voices in your head at this point [and] you’re trying to process so much? Is that part of what you’re saying?”

“I don’t think it’s too many coaching voices,” he said. “But I just think when you’re fed a lot of information at a point in time and you’re trying to think about that info when you’re playing, it doesn’t let you play like yourself.” 

With the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs up next in Week 3 for the Bears, things won’t be getting any easier for the young signal-caller.