The Bears have lost five of their last six games, and you’d be hard pressed to find one of their fans upset about that. Why? Justin Fields is turning the corner.
In his last five contests, Fields is 76-of-120 (63.3% completion rate) with eight touchdown throws and just a pair of interceptions. On the ground, the second-year quarterback has rushed 57 times for 455 yards — 7.98 yards per carry! — with three rushing scores.
For as readily available and appealing as stats are, they can be devious liars. Film is the upstanding, unwavering truth-teller. And fortunately for the Bears, Fields’ numbers-based ascension has been confirmed by that fact-checking nature of good old tape.
Beyond connecting more frequently on the basic routes, Fields is doing the extraordinary, and in the current NFL, extraordinary plays from quarterbacks separate the bad offenses from the good offenses and the good from the elite. This throw against the Commanders about a month ago on Thursday Night Football, a 40-yard touchdown to Dante Pettis, was a dime and a ridiculous display of Fields’ arm talent.
That’s over 50 yards in the air, with a defender in his grill, on a throw released when the wideout was even with the cornerback in coverage.
For as much as the NFL has become a “big-time throw” league, the nuanced facets of playing quarterback haven’t dissipated to the background completely. They still matter. Fields is maturing in that phase of the game, too.
Watch here, against the Patriots, how Fields stoically moved through his progressions to find Equanimeous St. Brown on the left side of the field for a first down. Last season, or even this September, Fields wouldn’t have been nearly as patient.
Touch is another intricate part of playing quarterback well as a professional, and it’s not something that comes fine-tuned early in every passer’s NFL career. Fields’ touch has vastly improved of late.
Like here, on this gorgeous touchdown to Darnell Mooney against the Dolphins in Week 9. The ball needs to be throw with the proper trajectory and placement in the back-portion of the end zone.
Of course, the appeal with Fields isn’t solely on high-end arm talent and advancing accuracy. Dude can scoot! Against the Dolphins, Fields broke the NFL’s single-game rushing-yard record (regular season) for a quarterback with 178 (previously 173, held by Michael Vick).
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