Justin Fields Support Sinking Fast

Analysis: The crowd urging the Bears to dump Justin Fields seems to be taking over everywhere except in reality.

The Bears have become a disaster in the eyes of the football public and Justin Fields has regressed.

The numbers don't lie in this case.

It's only been three weeks of the regular season but one thing is certain about Justin Fields: People have soured on him to a huge extent. That's not to say anyone with the team has, but probably just about everyone else who knows what a football and shoulder pads are and even some who only think they do.

No greater a telltale sign exists for a player's stock than the betting lines. After last season ended, Fields was 20-1 to win 2022 MVP according to the betting site Betonline.ag. Only eight players had friendlier odds.

By the week before the regular season, he had soared to 18-1.

However, after one game the odds against it were suddenly looking bleak at 50-1. After two games, it hit 75-1. And this week Fields is one of eight players who have been pulled off the board by the website. The others pulled off are Derrick Henry, Desmond Ridder, Jimmy Garoppolo, Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill and Sam Howell.

The decline hasn't been quite as dramatic with fantasy football, where Fields was king, or at least one of them. He has gone from a QB rated between No. 5-7 to 11th and now has a 90th overall rating for Pro Football Focus. They're still holding out hope for points through his running, apparently. With Fantasypros.com, he is now ranked ninth among QBs and 85th overall.

Listening to Bears Banter pod, and I enjoyed most of it. But I’m am so bloody tired of being told that I should root for my team to lose because it will make us better next year. That’s what I was told last year, and it’s really working out for us… you play to win the game.

— Kris Armstrong 🇺🇸 (@KrisArmstrong1) September 27, 2023

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports urged the Bears to trade Fields, but blames a great deal of his struggles on the coaches.

"For the second straight fall, coordinator Luke Getsy has shied away from keeping Fields on the move or within play-action designs, and Poles' chief investments at pass catcher -- i.e. D.J. Moore, Chase Claypool -- have been far too mercurial to justify confining Fields to an oft-collapsing pocket," Benjamin wrote. "Of course Fields deserves a portion of the blame here; he's been far too spotty with downfield decision-making, possessing a fatal penchant for crunch-time turnovers. Almost 30 starts into his career, he's still fighting to complete 60% of his throws, and he's averaged more than a fumble per game. When he's not scrambling, it seems, he's struggling."

Mike Martz on The33rdteam.com blasted Fields and even O.J. Simpson had something to say about benching Fields.

You won't see the link here so as not to give Simpson credit for anything. I watched it so you don't have to, but Simpson posted on "X" that it is possible for coaches to overload a player's circuits and limit them the way Fields suggested is happening, and added, "...but this guy Bagent is just like Brock Purdy. He's played a lot of college football at quarterback. And he's ready to be a pro quarterback. I'm just saying."

Poles always left room for a way out from Fields. Was never "Poles' guy" and he could use the evaluation/patience excuse to build his roster and then find his QB.

Problem is...the roster Poles has built, by and large, stinks. So why should we trust his QB eval? https://t.co/VcNU6JrhX8

— Joe Tidei (@JoeyRedZone) September 26, 2023

He posted this with his fantasy advice and his bragging about being unbeaten in fantasy football.

The thing is, Simpson posted this prior to the Bears' blowout loss to Kansas City.

An unbeaten fantasy team and then this? He obviously needs to turn his powers of clairvoyance to his self-proclaimed quest to find the killers of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman. I'm just saying.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven