The Chicago Bears have yet to live up to the hype that they had this offseason. With the NFC North virtually wide open, this was the year for the Bears to catapult their way up the standings, with third-year quarterback Justin Fields leading the way. Instead, the team is 0-2 on the year, and the offense looks anemic thus far. Fields hasn't necessarily helped his case, but fans are calling out the coaches for the lackluster and repetitive play-calling from offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Fields talked about his struggles early this year. Fields expressed his belief that he was "robotic" during games and he needed to be "thinking less" and just play. When asked by a reporter what he thought was causing him to think too much, Fields said, "coaching."
Justin Fields feels Bears' coaching has held him back this season
"It could be coaching, I think," said Fields. "But at the end of the day, they're doing their job when they're giving me what to look at and stuff like that, but at the end of the day I can't be thinking about that when the game comes. I prepare myself throughout the week and then when the game comes, it's time to play free at that point. Thinking less and playing more."
When asked about whether there are too many coaches in the headset, Fields said it is more that there is a lot of information being fed to him.
"I just think that you're fed a lot of information at a point in time and you're trying to think about that info when you're playing, it doesn't make you play like yourself," said Fields. "You're trying to process so much information to where it's like, if I just simplified it in my mind I would have did this.
"I saw a few plays on Sunday to where if I was playing like my old self, we would have had a positive play. There would have been a few more third-down conversions. I think that's the biggest thing for me, it's just playing the game I know how to play it, how I've been playing it my whole life. So that's what I've got to get back to doing."
These are seismic comments from Fields.
This past Sunday, the Bears lost 27-17 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Chicago cut their deficit to 20-17 midway through the fourth quarter, but Fields threw interceptions on back-to-back drives. The first interception came when the Bears were deep in their territory, and a screen pass was called. The play-call was much ridiculed, as it resulted in a pick-six by Buccaneers linebacker Shaq Barrett.
On the day, the Bears picked up just 236 yards of total offense on 51 plays (4.6 yards per play). Fields completed 16-of-29 pass attempts for 211 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions while running for three yards and a touchdown on four carries. Additionally, Fields was sacked six times for a loss of 42 yards.
The Bears are averaging 273.5 total offensive yards per game (sixth-lowest in NFL) and 18.5 points per game (ninth-lowest), per ESPN.
We will see if these comments from Fields will get to Getsy and head coach Matt Eberflus to let him, as he says, play the way he used to. The Bears have a tough challenge in Week 3, as they are on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs.
