Former Exec Railroaded Critics Still Defending Justin Fields
Michael Lombardi is not somebody Chicago Bears fans care for. That is because the former New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns executive have habitually trashed their quarterbacks over the past few years. He blasted Mitch Trubisky for being terrible during his time with the organization despite his success in 2018. Then he described Ryan Pace’s acquisition of Justin Fields as the equivalent of someone farting right before they leave the room. It’s safe to say he isn’t a fan of the Bears’ current quarterback, either.
It’s easy to understand why after watching Fields in Kansas City on Sunday. It marked the fourth game of his career, where he finished the game with fewer than 100 passing yards. His struggles with taking too many hits and sacks from holding the ball continue. He again passed up open wide receivers when they were available. For somebody who promised to play more freely, he looked like anything but. Fields couldn’t even rack up meaningful stats in garbage time. Lombardi isn’t shocked by this. He talked about the situation on his podcast, The GM Shuffle.
In his eyes, people blaming the coaches at this point are delusional.
“I don’t understand how Justin Fields became this guy everyone wants to run and defend,” Lombardi said. “Does anybody watch the tape? Here is the question I want to ask you. You get your headset on. You get your play sheet. You call plays for this guy. Because if you and I sat down and watched tape, and if we watched that Bears game against Tampa and we watched it closely and I showed you exactly what Luke Getsy called in the game and what (Fields) didn’t throw and what he didn’t do, you would say, ‘Well, it’s hard to call plays for this guy.’
“That’s why (Getsy) calls so many screens. Because Getsy knows at least he can complete a screen. Can we stop the nonsense, please? He’s throwing the coaches under the bus because he knows he’s got a sympathetic audience in Twitter. Now, he peeled it back. But who cares? He’s 5-22. He misses open receivers. He doesn’t throw to receivers. He leads the league in negative plays. At some point, when does somebody say, ‘It’s the player’?”
Lombardi didn’t stop there.
He’s not surprised by Fields’ struggles in large part because of how he throws the football. The quarterback has always had accuracy issues, even going back to his time at Ohio State. College masked it because the defenses weren’t as good, and he was surrounded by elite talent. You need pinpoint accuracy in the NFL. Fields doesn’t have it.
“Even when he’s given high-low reads, he doesn’t throw it,” Lombardi said. “He doesn’t trust his accuracy. His accuracy is a disaster. He can’t control the football, and if you watch his motion at Ohio State, I said this when he came out. If Tom Brady were to evaluate all of the quarterbacks in that draft, Fields would have been the least he liked because his motion is all over the place. It isn’t tight enough. He might hit one. He’s gonna miss two.”
Justin Fields looks like a man who knows his fate.
This was supposed to be his year. The Bears had worked hard all off-season to help him improve. They invested in the offensive line and found him a go-to receiver in D.J. Moore. This supporting cast is much better than the one he had last season. Yet Fields somehow looks worse. Blaming the coaches is the last gasp of fans scrambling for a solution. Nobody wants to accept the likely reality that the Bears got it wrong at quarterback again. Sadly, most of the evidence points to this. It’s fine if you don’t like Lombardi, but his statements ring true.
Right now, the odds are starting to favor Justin Fields getting benched more than him making a turnaround. It’s clear his confidence is shattered. The kid is out of ideas. He hasn’t won a game since October of last year. The hits are piling up. He’s become gunshy. Though he may insist his self-confidence is never shaken, his play and demeanor say otherwise. One has to feel bad for him. He’s worked so hard to become good. Harder than most. Sometimes, a player just doesn’t have the necessary tools.
Playing quarterback in the NFL is hard.