Bears Game Notebook: Justin Fields Rises (Week 3 vs. Browns)
At the nexus of experience and whelment (ehh..I’ll go with it), sits one Justin Fields, the quarterback who would be King and the walking prayer come true of each living generation of Bears fans who live each Sunday through him.
So cool he’s been so far, so accepting of his place in time and space. How can you not put your trust in him, at least for a couple weeks?
Matt Nagy continues his own unique confidence game, saying the kid is being put to use as needed as Andy Dalton’s knee recovers. Once the Red Rifle is 100% again, the team will be his (except for those special plays reserved for Fields), but I believe that to be the kind of release valve that Nagy is beginning to become a signature of this coach’s dealings with players as well as how he displaces pressure or expectations that exist from outside the bubble of Halas Hall.
Bears fans can still dream, for another 10 minutes or so as of this writing there’s still nothing on paper or on tape to discourage giving everything to Fields. Should he light up the Browns this afternoon and continue that ridiculous (yet fun) stat about him being undefeated in Ohio, the opening is there for Fields to officially be the change that we all seek.
If he doesn’t play to that level then Nagy has the cover he built up for himself to continue to do things his way. There are worst ways for the team’s near future to play out but there are very few that are less inspiring.
Bears fans want the passion and excitement that Kansas City has, Phoenix, Seattle, Baltimore — the places with truly 21 Century QBs, threats at every play, true chicken salad producers if you know what I mean.
Fields is the guy, he’s proven enough promise, but has he been handled right to this point? Today will tell a lot about that as well as how he’ll need to be handled going forward. #1 is going nowhere, so lets let the pressure reside where it needs to, with the guy who feels he always needs a Plan B, often because his Plan As lack so much.
This is something new for Chicago, that scary energy you feel is a good thing, let it ride and take it for what its worth. We of all fan bases know how rare it is for something like this to come along.
See y’all at halftime…
Halftime: 10-3 Browns
Ok…not much to write home about, so I’ma keep this short.
Gotta like the defense’s scrappiness and will to go head up with Cleveland, it makes the Bears seem more like an equal to them then they should, but the truth is the Bears are punching up in weight a little today - not necessarily lightweight v. heavyweight but maybe welterweight v. super middleweight.
There’s still a second half to weigh in, but its clear no matter who is under center for the Bears there are too many structural and philosophical issues with the offense to make everything go away on a bright afternoon in Cleveland.
Final: 26-6 Browns
What was implied in the first half was pounded into the consciousness of the once-hopeful Bears faithful by game’s end: the Bears do not have anything resembling a pro football offense and that is in spite, painfully in spite of having a promising quarterback at their disposal.
Fields has talent but he alone isn’t a quick fix, even if he checks all the boxes a quick fix could check he wouldn’t be enough for the Bears to make them a winning team at this moment. The Bears are beyond quick fixes - they were once an offense in search of a quarterback, now they have a QB in search of an offense, in search of structure, direction, cogent game-planning, an offensive line that can offer some sort of resistance better than the 9-sack party it allowed Miles Garrett and company to spring on Fields today, a kind of “Welcome to the NFL” party that substituted good food and drink for body slams and grass stains.
After the game Fields said all the right things, nothing surprising there. Nagy said a bunch of stuff that made it seem like he’s being responsible but moreso just underscores the continued belief that he’s getting more over his head as more is being asked of him.
You can be as plainspoken as you like, Matt, but at some point you need to come to grips with why so often are your teams not prepared, why so often are your teams not able to make anything out of your plans and schemes? It just may be because those plans and schemes and the guy who’s offering them are little more than a journeyman coach in training.
In the meanwhile, there isn’t really a lack of winning teams in the city - I think the Sky will advance at least one more round and the White Sox were in Cleveland as well this weekend completing the process of winning their division. Enjoy those teams while ya can and maybe start to bone up on the Blackhawks and Bulls’ off-season acquisitions if you haven’t already.
The one team that is supposed to unite Chicago in thrills at least through the fall is just about out of tricks at the moment, they won’t admit as much but you can see it in a performance like today’s.
*No Sunday Night Special this evening, I need some time to myself (not really because of the game, but the game definitely didn’t help). Check out the return of Monday Night Means, though, at 6:30 central, streaming live on @WARRMedia on Twitter and at WARR Media on YouTube