Regardless of Bears’ flaws, turnovers land on QB Justin Fields’ shoulders

The Bears have surrounded quarterback Justin Fields with an abundance of problems in his first three seasons. There’s no arguing against that. Whether it’s been the coaching, the scheme, the offensive line or the wide receivers, it’s never been quite right.

But he’s still the one with the ball in his hands — not Matt Nagy, Luke Getsy or whoever else has had a hand in the various hindrances he’s faced since the Bears drafted him. Fields makes the final call on where the ball goes and must show awareness and good judgment regardless of anything else going on around him.

The ongoing turnover trouble is squarely Fields’ responsibility, and questions about his decision-making loom largely as the Bears weigh whether to build their future around him.

Fields threw two interceptions, including a game-sealing pick-six in the final minutes, and fumbled in the Bears’ 27-17 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday. He also lost a fumble and threw an interception on back-to-back plays in the third quarter that were overturned on replay review, but that didn’t make those errors any less concerning in the big picture.

In 29 career games, Fields has now thrown 24 interceptions and had 31 fumbles attributed to him, though that total includes bad snaps that might not have been his fault. His pick-six was the fourth of his career, matching Aaron Rodgers’ total in 19 seasons.

He’s getting the reputation of being a turnover machine, and that’ll give the Bears some hesitation. General manager Ryan Poles is debating whether to invest a massive chunk of salary-cap space in Fields and bet his own job on it. Fields is eligible for a contract extension after the season, and even the more conservative avenue of picking up his fifth-year option for 2025 is projected to cost $23.3 million.

There’s no way Poles will do any of that if Fields looks like a turnover machine.

The Tampa Bay game was his second in a row with a pick-six, and both times a defensive player fooled him.

In the Packers game, linebacker Quay Walker faked like he was helping on a receiver deep, then stepped right in front of Darnell Mooney’s route to intercept Fields’ pass. Buccaneers pass rusher Shaq Barrett charged as though headed to the backfield, then faded back to pick off the fateful screen pass Sunday.

On the would-be interception by Bucs backup cornerback Zyon McCollum at the end of the third quarter, Fields tried to force the ball to a tightly covered Chase Claypool on the sideline. If he’s going to do that, he has to put it where the worst thing that can happen is it sails out of bounds.