Why I’m not willing to give up on JF1
The bears as a team including Fields had an abysmal start to the season, be it because of coaching or because of a lack of talent. In my opinion blame lies mostly with coaching, but this is a young roster with a lack of experience (which is why we are seeing this team improve on defense so much).
Then in week 4 something changed (for 3 quarters), the offense seemed to click and we put up great numbers. From week 4 till now, week 12, Justin has played some really good football. He misses some reads, sure, but if you look at every snap (which i have and sometimes this offense makes you want to poke your eyes out) he looks like a mostly good QB who needs to clean up some things, which in my opinion are coachable. In my opinion watching the games he has played after the meltdown in kansas, (excluding the vikins, because he got hurt and the offense as a whole was atrocious) he passes the eye test as a qb1.
He is going through his progressions, checking plays at the line (there is still a good amount of progression to be made here, but he is atleast servicable at this) and he is getting the ball out quicker. He is good at extending plays and when he gets out the pocket he is a pass first qb, which suprised me, because he is such a dynamic runner with the football. He can beat a team with his legs, has one of the best (if not the best) deepballs in the NFL and is starting to get better at the short and intermediate level.
Now for the people who don’t care about how somebody looks out on the field and want to look at statistics, here they are.
Passing 4 weeks:
- 1003 yards (250.75 ypg)
- 86/124 for 69.4% completed passes
- Passer rating of 114.42 (only 5 qb’s have a rating over 100 this season)
- 9 TD’s
- 1 INT
Rushing 4 weeks:
- 245 yards (61 ypg)
- 5.5 ypa
- 4 fumbles
- 3 fumbles lost
Season (17 games):
- 4263 passing yards
- 1041 rushing yards
- 69.4% complete
- 38 Td’s
- 4 ints
- 17 fumbles (13 lost)
So that would mean Justin would have 5304 total yards with 38 TD’s (which could be more if he gets some rushing TD’s which he hasn’t in these 4 weeks) 4 INT’s with 17 fumbles (lost 13). This would be a 9.5 : 1 TD/INT ratio and a 2.2 : 1 TD/TO ratio.
Don’t get me wrong Justin still has things he needs to work on (fumbles, reading defenses and throwinflg with anticipation), but if you 1) look at the tape, he is playing confident and going through his progressions more + adjustments and checks at the LOS, which he has improved upon since coming in the league 2) look at the statistics 3) look at the team (we are in a rebuild with guys who need time to develop and gel together). Justin has what it takes to be a top QB in this league, granted he needs to clean up the fumbles and shows more progression reading the defense, which he has done so far.
Would love to hear opinions on this and answer any questions that you might have (and let’s please keep it civil)