For the love of god, Chicago Bears, get Justin Fields some help

On a day where the quarterback draft class of 2021 mostly crumbled, Justin Fields was a tower. The Chicago Bears’ second-year passer burned bright as his offense and defense flickered and went dim around him.

For the third straight game, he ran for at least 60 yards. He threw a pair of touchdown passes, and while that only gives him five in his last four games each of those went to a different receiver ranging from promising(ish) young players (Velus Jones, Cole Kmet) to other teams’ abandoned jetsam (Dante Pettis, N’Keal Harry). He escaped pressure from the league’s best pass rush and found a way to keep broken plays alive.

This, of course, didn’t matter. The Bears scored 29 points and still lost by 20. The play most people will remember from this game is a hurdle Fields made instead of touching a downed Micah Parsons to end a play:

CHAOS IN DALLAS!

: #CHIvsDAL on FOX
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/QMxVpZl61r pic.twitter.com/EeMvcZBY3U

— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2022

That play is pretty representative of Fields’ Chicago career to date. His offensive line gives way to a four-man rush and turns his original plans into havoc. He uses his upper tier athleticism to make magic, then watches his best-laid plans come undone by a number of forces — some within his control, but way too many not.

Through eight games Fields has been sacked a league-high 31 times. His 16.3 percent sack rate — roughly one in six dropbacks! — is somehow significantly worse that last year’s league-leading 11.8 percent. He’s had little support from his running game (the Bears rank 20th in rushing offense DVOA) in large part because that offensive line isn’t clearing room for his running backs; David Montgomery’s 1.5 yards before contact is a career low and ranks 52nd among 53 qualified RBs this season.

Also, his starting center is a guy who did this in the middle of a primetime game.

i'm sorry i understand the Zappe thing is a big deal, i'm just still trying to figure out what #67's plan is here pic.twitter.com/D0kxBp59Nt

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 25, 2022

This cannot stand if Fields is going to meet even modest expectations in Chicago.

We’ve seen quarterbacks find the plateau where potential meets production thanks to proactive front offices before. The Cincinnati Bengals did this for Joe Burrow and were rewarded with an AFC title. The Philadelphia Eagles are currently in the midst of a similar rise because they surrounded Jalen Hurts with the kind of playmaking talent who can turn a likely interception in double coverage into a routine touchdown catch:

AJ Brown let Minkah Fitzpatrick think he was getting an INT just long enough to break his heart pic.twitter.com/4gl1IzxRuG

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 30, 2022

The Bears don’t have that now. The closest they’ve gotten was an injured Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney in 2021. Now they’ve got Dante Pettis and N’Keal Harry and Equamineous St. Brown and a bunch of plays that vaguely look like this:

I BEG the Chicago Bears to get Justin Fields some WRs.. pic.twitter.com/yPASWWy4gC

— m (@downbadbears) October 30, 2022

There is a light on the horizon. Each loss boosts the stock of a team who can target an impact wide receiver in the top half of next spring’s NFL Draft. In my latest mock, I have the Bears selecting TCU hellbeast Quentin Johnston in my first mock draft of the season — a 6-foot-4 gamebreaker who’d create a dynamite combination alongside Mooney. Other potential stars like Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, USC’s Jordan Addison or LSU’s Kayshon Boutte could fit as well.

The draft will provide a trickle of talent following what will be a flood of free agent spending. No team in the league has more salary cap space for 2023 than the Bears’ projected $120 million. Only three franchises have even half that. While next year’s crop of available blockers isn’t stellar, it still provides the backdrop for massive upgrades. The defense could re-sign Roquan Smith to the megadeal he’s asked for while adding veterans like Bradley Chubb, James Bradberry, Jessie Bates III or Javon Hargrave.

All Fields can do for the four months before free agency begins is give his front office a reason to believe in him. Like hitting a low-cost trade flyer who couldn’t make an impact in New England’s depleted receiving rotation for a touchdown in tight coverage:

First TD as a Bear for @NkealHarry15

: #CHIvsDAL on FOX pic.twitter.com/Gt3siJAKe4

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 30, 2022

Or working the designed run plays offensive coordinator Luke Getsy finally, mercifully, installed in his playbook to take advantage of the game-changing dual threat quarterback at the center of his universe.

JF1 on the run

: #CHIvsDAL on FOX pic.twitter.com/jJDA3sGWRK

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 30, 2022

Fields has a lot to offer the Bears. For the first two seasons of his pro career they’ve had very little to offer in return. But despite that he’s emerged as one of the most promising pieces of the 2021 NFL Draft class, even if his shine is dulled by turnovers and losses.

On paper, Justin Fields is a below average quarterback fulfilling yet another year of Chicago’s endless curse. In practice he’s capable of turning an ounce of daylight into kilowatts of power. Now it’s on the Bears to give him the tools that allow him to shine as brightly as possible.