Longtime Insider Reveals Key Stat Justin Fields Needs To Reach Franchise Status

The regular season draws closer. Justin Fields continues working on improving his overall game for what is easily the most pivotal year of his football life. The Chicago Bears have done everything they can to make life easier for him. They retooled the offensive line to boost his protection. Then they added legitimate weapons like D.J. Moore, Chase Claypool, and Robert Tonyan. Early results in training camp are encouraging. Yet some remain skeptical that he can take the necessary leap to become a legitimate franchise quarterback.

Nobody disputes Fields has talent. The problem is he's too much like Michael Vick. He's fantastic as a running threat, but his ability to beat teams with his arm feels underwhelming. That makes it difficult to determine a realistic goal for Fields this season. Peter King of NBC Sports has covered the league for decades. He was asked this question on Football Night In Chicago. His answer was not entirely expected.

One of the fundamental requirements of an NFL quarterback is being able to string together completions. It may sound less vital compared to other stats like yards or touchdowns, but the truth says otherwise. Here are the completion percentages for every quarterback that made the playoffs last season.

• Geno Smith - 69.8%
• Joe Burrow - 68.3%
• Daniel Jones - 67.2%
• Patrick Mahomes - 67.1%
• Brock Purdy - 67.1%
• Tyler Huntley - 67.0%
• Tom Brady - 66.8%
• Jalen Hurts - 66.5%
• Trevor Lawrence - 66.3%
• Dak Prescott - 66.2%
• Kirk Cousins - 65.9%
• Tua Tagovailoa - 64.8%
• Josh Allen - 63.3%

King is correct about Justin Fields.

The best quarterbacks tend to land somewhere in the 65-70% completion range. All five of the last Super Bowl winners finished 65 or higher. So if the Bears want to compete for a championship, Fields has to get that number up. It's been a problem through his first two years. His rookie season was 58.9%, and last year wasn't much better at 60.4%. Unfortunately, it can often be difficult for a quarterback who struggles to complete passes to figure out how consistently. The only known exception in recent memory is Hurts, who went from 52% as a rookie to 66.5 last season.

Vick never figured it out. Allen had one great year in 2020 (69.2%) before sliding back into his normal range. Randall Cunningham, another Fields-like QB, never figured it out. Lamar Jackson averaged 65% between 2019 and 2021. So while 67% should be the goal for Justin Fields, it seems like 65% is the reasonable floor. Only two quarterbacks in Bears history have started at least 14 games in a season and finished with a completion percentage of 65 or better. One was Jay Cutler in 2014, and the other was Mitch Trubisky in 2018.

That should give you an idea of the challenge Fields faces.