Justin Fields Keeps a Level Head, Not His Helmet
It would be easy to look at what Justin Fields did in Saturday's 41-15 drubbing of the Bears by the Buffalo Bills and conclude he's struggling.
He's not picking up the offense, other defenses, the entire scope of the task at hand. Or, at least he's not doing it fast enough.
You're not going to hear that from Matt Nagy, who often has reminded everyone his rookie quarterback is not yet ready and Andy Dalton is comfortable with their offense.
"Yeah, that's the million dollar question and I think when you look at a guy like Justin and you see the things that he's doing, are there some things he can get better at? Yeah, for sure," Nagy said. "We're going to say that three years from now but at the same point in time for him there's also things that he's doing better probably than we thought coming into this, which is good too."
One would be staying alive.
The pass blocking from this thrown-together offensive line is enough to get a quarterback decapitated. And it looked for a second like something along these lines happened when Andre Smith broke through early in the fourth quarter and hit Fields helmet to helmet. He knocked off Fields' helmet and it went flying.
The 12-yard penalty enforced half the distance was one of the better gains of the day for a Bears offense that struggled, except for Fields' ability to scramble and a couple big passes, one from Andy Dalton and one from Fields.
It was a play that called for apologies. Smith made his on social media later to Bears fans and Fields. Nagy offered his up to the media.
"We put something on there that's going to take a little bit longer and that's a learning lesson for Justin," Nagy said. "It was scat protection and the guy came off the edge and so he's gotta get rid of the ball there or else at least with what they were telling me on the sideline Justin said, 'Hey man, I learned from that.'
"It's a play where scat, they had one extra (rusher) than us. Between the offensive line, the quarterback, the wide receivers, the coaching staff, everybody, that's one you take and say, 'OK, the next time we see this, we gotta go like this. We gotta do this or do that.' I'm glad he was OK. It always, you (worry), that helmet pops up like that. But Justin is tough, man. He's a tough dude."
The scat protection without extra help for any linemen will work against a regular pass rush but the blitz was coming. Fields said he was looking for Riley Ridley making a double move. There wasn't time for this.
He needed to throw to a hot receiver on the other side.
"It's a simple correction, just make it," Fields said.
Ironically, Fields was having trouble with the headset in his helmet before the game.
After the hit, he didn't have a helmet let alone a headset.
Running for his life or running, period, is something Fields says he's always done. He managed to gain 46 yards rushing to go with his 80 yards on 9 of 19 passing.
So, it might look like he's not staying in the pocket as he should, but he says he knows when to leave. And he was leaving a lot on Saturday, as Bears quarterbacks took 12 hits from pass rushers to go with four sacks and the penalty.
"I feel good about my progression every day and how I'm practicing and learning the playbook," Fields said. "Now it's just getting reps and reps and reps and just keep getting those reps."
Preferably not ones where it ends with his helmet knocked to the ground.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
