COME ON, FEET, DON’T FAIL US
Bears’ so-far-fruitless focus on Fields’ footwork is starting to feel like QB boondoggles of the past
Waiting for Justin Fields’ footwork to kick in is like waiting for Lonzo Ball to come back to the Bulls. It’s supposed to make a huge difference, but will it ever actually happen?
Skepticism and impatience are heavy as the Bears’ offense under coordinator Luke Getsy and Fields gives off an unsettling Matt Nagy/Mitch Trubisky vibe after another uninspiring offensive performance in Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Texans.
Maybe it was Fields fumbling the first snap of the Bears’ first possession. Or Fields overthrowing an open Cole Kmet with a clean pocket for an interception. Or his second read being even more open than the first read. Or Fields stumbling over running back David Montgomery’s foot on a drop-back and throwing incomplete to Equanimeous St. Brown. Or Fields missing badly on a simple swing pass to running back Trestan Ebner. Or failing to pull the trigger when a receiver is open. Or overthrowing Darnell Mooney for another interception.
It’s still really early — just Week 4 of the first season under Getsy. But even the answers are sounding hauntingly familiar, like when coach Matt Eberflus was asked what Fields needs to work on this week.
“Keep on working on his footwork,” he said. “The footwork and then the timing, when he gets the ball out of his hands.”
Improving — or correcting — Fields’ footwork was a priority pet project of Getsy and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko when they got their hands on him in the offseason. By June, it was paying off.
“Luke and Andrew are doing a great job with the footwork and the timing,” Eberflus said near the end of organized team activities. “You can see [the improvement] in the drill work. You can see them taking it from the drill work to the 11-on-11 reps, and that’s clearly getting better. So I’m excited about that.” Three months later, it’s still not quite there. “We need more consistency on it,” Eberflus said. “He’s getting better at that. And that breaks down sometimes when the protection breaks down, so that was some of it.”
Correcting the flaw that never seems to go away and working on consistency that proves elusive is a Bears quarterback tradition. Like Nagy with Trubisky. Or Dowell Loggains with Trubisky. Or Adam Gase with Jay Cutler. Or Ron Turner, Mike Martz, Mike Tice or Marc Trestman with Cutler. Or Ron Turner with Rex Grossman.
Or Gary Crowton with Cade McNown.
These things take time. But even relative to other developing quarterbacks, Fields is lacking, showing more signs of regression than progress. Of the 70 first-round quarterbacks to start in their second season in the last 30 years, Fields’ 50.0 passer rating through three games ranks 66th and is the lowest since 2000. And many of those quarterbacks were (or are) with a new coordinator, like Fields is. The Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence (103.1), the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson (113.9), the Chargers’ Justin Herbert (97.9) and the Colts’ Andrew Luck (92.6) are among those who looked like they were getting somewhere early in the first year of a transition.
That’s not how it works at Halas Hall. So, after three unimpressive performances amid modest expectations, the bar has been set even lower for Fields: Just show a glimmer of hope you’re heading in the right direction. With the Bears and quarterbacks, even baby steps require good footwork.
2 The next stage of the Fields watch process is comparisons to Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who had very similar footwork and mechanics issues coming out of Wyoming and struggled with accuracy in his first two NFL seasons.
After completing 56.3% of his passes in 2018-19, Allen completed 69.2% in 2020 and 63.3% in 2021 (and is at 71.2% this season).
Improved footwork under the tutelage of former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll is cited as the biggest reason for Allen’s sudden improvement, which coincided with the Bills’ acquisition of wide receiver Stefon Diggs in 2020. Hmmm . . .
3a Then again, searching for hope by latching on to the rare example of success while ignoring the many examples of failure is yet another ritual of this quarterback-development process.
When Trubisky was struggling early in 2019, Nagy compared it to Drew Brees’ 0-4 start with a 57.4 rating (one touchdown, nine interceptions) with the Saints in 2007, his second year in Sean Payton’s offense.
Brees recovered to throw 27 touchdowns with only nine interceptions in 2007 and was on his way to the Hall of Fame. Trubisky recovered to throw 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2019 and was on his way to Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
3b Here’s the kicker: Even the breakout performance isn’t necessarily defining. This week marks the fourth anniversary of Trubisky’s six-touchdown game against the Buccaneers. In Week 4 at Soldier Field in 2018, he completed 19 of 26 passes for 354 yards with no interceptions for a career-best 154.6 rating in a 48-10 rout. It was heralded by some as an arrival, but as it turned out, it was Trubisky taking advantage of an inferior opponent. The Buccaneers came in allowing 30.3 points and 473.3 passing yards per game.
4 Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush is 3-0 as a starter, with passer ratings of 92.3 against the Vikings on the road last
year, 95.5 against the Bengals in Week 2 this year and 98.2 in a road victory over the Giants on Monday night. That seems like a reasonable bar for Fields and Getsy to clear against the Giants this Sunday at the Meadowlands.
5 Fields’ 27.7 passer rating is the sixth lowest in a Bears victory in the last 30 seasons, behind Rex Grossman vs. the Vikings in 2006 (1.3), Todd Collins vs. the Panthers in 2010 (6.2), Grossman vs. the Cardinals in 2006 (10.2), Craig Krenzel vs. the Titans in 2004 (19.3) and Kyle Orton vs. the Packers in 2005 (23.7).
6 Of 10 new NFL head coaches this season, the five first-time coaches are a combined 11-4: the Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel (3-0), Eberflus (2-1), the Giants’ Brian Daboll (2-1), the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell (2-1) and the Broncos’ Nathaniel Hackett (2-1). The five with previous NFL head-coaching experience are 5-9-1: the Bucs’ Todd Bowles (2-1), the Jaguars’ Doug Peterson (2-1), the Saints’ Dennis Allen (1-2), the Texans’ Lovie Smith (0-2-1) and the Raiders’ Josh McDaniels (0-3).
7 Eberflus’ practice-hard/play-hard philosophy merits watching after the Bears’ injury list grew in Week 3.
Rookie wide receiver Velus Jones was the only player on the final injury list for the Packers game in Week 2. But five players didn’t play against the Texans because of injury. And Montgomery (ankle) and wide receiver Byron Pringle (calf ) suffered injuries Sunday. Pringle was put on injured reserve Tuesday.
8 A strong running game is supposed to increase the effectiveness of play-action passes, but that’s not quite happening with the Bears. They rushed for 281 yards against the Texans, but on play-action passes, Fields was 2-for-6 for 38 yards, an interception, a sack and a six-yard scramble.
9 Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Falcons running back/ wide receiver/kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson rushed for 141 yards on 17 carries (8.3 average) with a 17-yard touchdown run in a 27-23 road victory over the Seahawks.
10 Bear-ometer: 7-10 — at Giants (L); at Vikings (L); vs. Commanders (W); at Patriots (L); at Cowboys (L); vs. Dolphins (L); vs. Lions (W); at Falcons (W); at Jets (W); vs. Packers (L); vs. Eagles (L); vs. Bills (L); at Lions (L); vs. Vikings (W).