This Wild Justin Fields Stat Is Impossible To Believe

People have spent weeks now trying to figure out what is going on with Justin Fields. It has fallen into two camps. Either he’s got terrible support from the other players on the Chicago Bears offense, or he hasn’t played well enough. The reality, as is often the case, falls somewhere in between. It’s true the Bears offensive line and wide receivers haven’t been overly helpful to start the season. Too many missed blocks or dropped passes. At the same time, Fields continues to make things harder on himself in two key ways.

The first and most well-documented is his tendency to hold the ball when his first read is covered. His ability to process and make quick decisions remains below average through the first 16 starts of his career. This has led to him absorbing several unnecessary hits and sacks. His inability/unwillingness to hit the layups is far less talked about. The passes that should be far easier completions.

Credit to Robert Schmitz of Windy City Gridiron for finding this. So far in 2022, Fields has completed 23 passes of 10 yards or more. Conversely, he has completed only 21 passes between nine yards and the line of scrimmage. To understand how wild this is, here is Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen by comparison.

• 0-9 yards – 85 completions
• 10+ yards – 45 completions

Allen has arguably the most gifted arm in the NFL, but his ability to string the shorter throws together makes him so much harder to stop. That hasn’t been the case with Fields. His completion percentage on throws between 0-9 yards is 56.75. That isn’t good.

Through 6 games #Bears Justin Fields has more completions of 10+ yards than completions of 10 yards or less.

That’s… well I’ve certainly never seen that before! Have you?

— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) October 18, 2022

Justin Fields makes sustaining drives hard because of this.

You might be surprised how many times the Bears have had to punt this season after he fails to complete a pass within ten yards of the line of scrimmage. Don’t believe it? Check this out.

• 1-3 yards to go for a first down: 4-of-7
• 4-6 yards to go for a first down: 8-of-21

When it is 3rd down and somewhere between four and nine yards to go, Justin Fields has a 47.62 completion percentage. There is no way somebody can blame that entirely on the receivers being bad. The harsh reality is the quarterback isn’t doing a good enough job making the easier throws. He’s the antithesis of Mitch Trubisky, which isn’t any better. In fact, it might even be worse. While Fields is good each week for two or three long throws, it is mitigated by his inability to sustain or finish drives.

Defenses have already begun to figure out how to handle him. Play Cover 2 or Quarters to prevent big plays and force him to work his way down the field. He can’t do it. Not consistently. Until that changes, this is where the Bears’ passing game is at.