The Clock Is Now Ticking On Justin Fields

This was the worst possible way for Justin Fields to begin his third year as an NFL QB. The Bears' QB laid an egg in yesterday's season opener. Thirty-three of his 37 passing attempts failed to go more than 10 yards downfield. Several of his passes were thrown behind the line of scrimmage. The Bears passing game only accounted for 189 net yards.

According to all the preseason hype, Fields was reading defenses better, going through his progressions faster, and delivering his passes on time. None of that was evident in Sunday's embarrassing performance. Fields was NOT finding open receivers downfield and all too often checked the ball down to his running backs. The sad truth is in the numbers.

Other than Darnell Mooney, who was targeted seven times, no WR was targeted more than twice, in fact Claypool, D J Moore, and Tyler Scott were targeted only two times each. Only 13 targets in 37 attempts went to what was supposed to be the offense's best asset. In stark contrast, Bears' RBs were targeted 16 times.

Both fans and media were ready to see Justin attack his third year, but it never happened. Green Bay pressured the Bears' QB on over 50% of his dropbacks, generating 26 pressures and four sacks.

The offensive line provided little help yesterday. They were sloppy handing off blocking assignments and committed too many penalties. While penalties can be addressed, cohesiveness takes time. With Jenkins not available until week five at the earliest and Nate Davis simply not practicing most of the summer, this line was no better than what we witnessed last year.

This is supposed to be the breakout year for Fields. Much was made about how D J Moore would make a huge impact for Fields and the offense. Moore cannot do that on just two targets per game.

Green Bay blitzed Fields on 31% of his dropbacks yesterday. He will be blitzed just as often when the Bears visit Tampa on Sunday. Fields needs to take a shot downfield early and often downfield to the strength of the offense, its speedy set of wide receivers. If Getsy doesn't take the training wheels off, the Bears will be staring at an 0-3 record before they play their second home game of the season.