Justin Fields' Search for Consistency
Uncertainty about Justin Fields' future corresponds with the situation surrounding offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, and for that matter the entire Bears coaching staff.
A blown 10-point lead against Cleveland and Fields' struggles quickly snuffed out what could have been a three-game winning streak. Fields can't help but feel like the offense let down their defense.
"When you have a defense that's playing as good as they are right now, it makes our job way easier," Fields said Wednesday at Halas Hall.
When they're not able to do that job, the failure becomes all the more conspicuous.
Fields thinks he's continuing to improve but it could help if the Bears get their running game going and start to consistently move the chains again. This would be the quick fix for what has been a mediocre offense overall.
"I don't think you're ever going to be satisfied with a game, whether you throw for 300 yards, have three TDs, like there's always going to be something that you can get better at and improve on," he said.
He was far from 300 yards passing and three TDs Sunday.
Fields' passer rating for the last three games is 72.8 and it dropped his season's passer rating down to 85.6, which is only .4 over last season's. He's now down to a career-low 6.7 yards per pass attempt when he had been around 7.4 or 7.5 most of the season. He had run his streak of passes without an interception to a career-best 113 but it ended on the last play of the half.
The 47.5% completed Sunday was his season low. His career-best streak of 113 straight passes without an interception came at the end of the first half Sunday, but beyond those numbers the ones really bother Fields and the Bears offense were 3.3 yards per rush and 22.2% third down efficiency.
"First and second down, like I said after the game Sunday, we really didn't get the run game going like we wanted to," Fields said.
As a result, their own defense almost outscored them in the game.
Coach Matt Eberflus pointed directly at this area when he described how the offense gets better.
"Would just say that really when you look at staying ahead, being ahead of things," he said. "And that's what running the football and having good controlled passing will do. And how do you do that? It's through the design, the execution and being ahead of it.
"We're good when we have … I could say this about every offense: they’re good when they have manageable third downs or they’re first down, second down, first down, not even getting to third down. It’s important that you move the chains that way and do a really good job that way."
From that end, the Bears have to like Sunday's matchup because the Cardinals rank 31st stopping the run. They're not going against one of the league's elite defenses like against Cleveland.
When the offense struggles like last week there are always questions. The previous week they scored the 28 points Fields said after Sunday's game is the goal for his side of the ball every week. That was after a 12-point game without a touchdown in a win over Minnesota.
The inconsistency is maddening and a reason they're ranked 22nd in scoring and offense. For that reason, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is getting close scrutiny.
"Looking at that as a whole in terms of the expectations, you want to focus on what we're gonna do this week," Eberflus said, not wanting to take his eye off the ball yet. "We've had some improvements during the course of the year on all sides of the ball.
"It's critical that we focus on being the best we can be this week against this opponent right here, right now and have our feet right here."
The bigger picture is yet to be addressed, the 30,000-foot view where you look at the possible long-term answers. This is where over offensive design and philosophy come into play and people like quarterbacks, coordinators and even coaches can be changed.
"No question, no question," Eberflus said about the need for bigger answers. "And we're gonna assess all those things at the end and, again, we've gotta play these (three) games right here, right now.
"So we're gonna focus on being our best when our best is required, and that's required today."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
