It’s near the end of the Bears’ season, and the end of quarterback Justin Fields’ third, and the passing game still isn’t dynamic, impressive or even efficient.
Fields threw for 170 yards Sunday in a win over the crumbling Cardinals, and that sits exactly in the middle of the Bears’ curve for the season — they’ve had seven games better and seven worse. It should all have come together a while ago, especially with an upgraded offensive line and the addition of top wide receiver DJ Moore, but the Bears remain near the bottom of the NFL in passing offense and Fields is outside the top 20 at his position in most categories.
Teams typically know what they have in a quarterback by the end of Year 3, or much earlier in some cases, and are ready to commit with a massive contract extension if they are convinced. The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, for example, both were 11th or higher in yards per game, passer rating and completion percentage last season — the third for each of them — and signed five-year deals worth $255 million and $275 million, respectively, this year.
But the conversation around Fields has centered on potential rather than results. There hasn’t been anything concrete to this point, and that’s why the Bears will be weighing the option of picking a quarterback high in the draft for the second year in a row. ESPN’s latest calculation gave the Bears a 95.9% chance of getting the No. 1 pick via their trade with the Panthers.
With two games left, the next being Sunday at home against the Falcons, Fields is 23rd among 30 qualifying quarterbacks in yards passing per game at 195.1, 21st in passer rating at 84.5 and 27th in completion percentage at 60.9.
He has thrown 15 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, putting him on track to finish near his numbers last season. He lowered his interception percentage from 3.7 as a rookie to 3.5 last season to 2.8 this season, but 2.8 is fourth-highest among qualifying quarterbacks.
Fields’ 585 yards rushing this season are second only to the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson among quarterbacks, though he and the Bears have said they want to emphasize gaining through the air rather than on the ground.
While Jackson runs for 52.4 yards per game, he also throws for an average of 223.8. Hurts is right behind Fields in quarterback rushing, but that accounts for just 13.6% of his total output because he throws for 242.2 per game.
Fields has thrown for under 200 yards 24 of 36 starts, same for completing at least 65% of his passes.
His numbers, along with the nondescript performances by rookie backup Tyson Bagent in the middle of the season when Fields dislocated his thumb, have the Bears sitting 28th in the NFL in passing production at 182.6 yards per game.
It’s extremely difficult to win that way. Every team in the bottom 10 in passing yardage has a losing record except the Steelers at 8-7, and they’re pulling that off by having the No. 7 defense in the league. All but one team in the top 10 in passing yardage, the 7-8 Vikings, have a winning record.
One of the biggest missing pieces for the Bears has been the downfield attack, and coach Matt Eberflus has been calling for more of those shots from Fields and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy for much of the season. Fields threw more than 15 yards downfield four times against the Cardinals, completing two passes and throwing an interception.
“We had some good shots in there,” Eberflus said Tuesday. “We just didn’t do a better job of keeping that going... We have to continue to do that because I know how hard it is defensively speaking. Because when you do that, you back [defenders] up and that opens up the intermediate passing game.”
Fields threw more than 15 yards downfield 11 times against the Browns the week before, not counting two Hail Mary passes that were intercepted, and completed two. He completed 3 of 6 against the Lions the game before that and 1 of 2 in the Bears’ 12-10 win over the Vikings in Week 12.
Is that on Getsy or Fields, or both? Because the Bears theoretically have what they need to be a proficient downfield passing team. The o-line is the best it’s been in years, Moore and Mooney have exceptional speed and the Bears talk all the time about Fields being a great deep-ball thrower — something he showed regularly at Ohio State.
“We’ve gotta keep getting after it, just keep doing it and keep taking out shots and keep making those connections,” Eberflus said when asked what has hindered the downfield passing this season. “Hopefully these next two games we will.”
It’s unclear whether this is a problem Eberflus knows how to solve, but when the Bears get to the end of the season and evaluate whether he should remain their coach, they’re going to want to hear specifics on what hasn’t been working and how to fix it.
His expertise is on defense, where he worked exclusively his entire career until the Bears hired him, but a defensive-minded head coach is still responsible for the quarterback and the offense.
