Thursday Night Football: Bears need to trust Justin Fields, starting vs. Commanders

The Chicago Bears and their fans were excited when the team drafted quarterback Justin Fields last year. It seemed like a possible answer to their long-running quarterback problem.

But the general manager and coach who were around when Fields was drafted are gone. There have been no indications that the current regime, hired this past offseason, has much trust in Fields.

The Bears didn't give Fields much help around him in the draft or free agency. Their offensive line and receiving corps could both rank dead last in the NFL. Then the Bears have called games like they'd be happy if they never had to attempt a forward pass. Perhaps that's because they don't want to expose their young quarterback behind a bad offensive line. Maybe they don't believe Fields can handle more.

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No matter the reason, as the Bears head into a Thursday night matchup against the Washington Commanders on Amazon Prime Video, they're doing everything they can to hide a quarterback who was the 11th pick of the draft a year ago.

Justin Fields hasn't passed much

Last season Fields had some exciting moments. A strong game on a Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers stood out. He was far from a finished product but there were flashes that showed why he was a top prospect in the 2021 draft.

When you have a highly drafted quarterback who shows some good things as a rookie, you want to see a step forward the next season. Organizationally, you typically help out your young quarterback so he can grow. The Bears have strangely gone the other way.

Last season Fields attempted 25.5 passes in his starts and averaged 180 yards per game. This season that's down to 17.6 attempts and 135.8 yards. Those are numbers better suited in the 1960s. It's not modern football.

That's with a 15-of-21, 208-yard game last week against the Minnesota Vikings when the Bears fell behind 21-3 and had no choice but to pass it more. Fields' totals would have been better if not for some drops. He played very well.

“Operation was really good by Justin,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “Justin had one of the best days of his career.”

Before that, Fields didn't have more than 11 completions in a game this season.

It's not all due to conservative playcalling. Fields didn't play that well early in the season. The Bears certainly know the infrastructure around him isn't good, because they did virtually nothing to fix it.

Maybe it's smart for Chicago to limit Fields as much as they can during what they hope to be a multi-year process. It's just hard to see how this approach is helping his development.

Will Bears open it up?

There's no one right way to develop a quarterback. Some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL have played right away and carried a heavy weight of the offense, even on bad teams. Others have sat and learned, or played in risk-averse offenses early on. There's no correct answer.

It still doesn't seem like Fields is growing. He's just in a holding pattern. Through five games he has as many completions (49) as Cooper Kupp has receptions, which is one of the zaniest stats of the NFL season. His first three games this season he completed eight, seven and eight passes.

Last week showed that Fields is capable of more, even with a bad offense around him. It won't be perfect. But Chicago can take steps forward with their quarterback. That seems better than spending all season watching a first-round quarterback hand off for 17 games.

Perhaps on Thursday night we'll see more of Fields in the passing game. The Bears were happy with his performance last week and it nearly resulted in a comeback win. Until the Bears trust their young quarterback a little more, we won't have much idea of what his potential looks like.