The Bears need a good look at Fields \u2014 and a sharp assessment of whether Matt Nagy is the right coach to pair with him for 2022 and beyond. The final eight games should provide a fair evaluation.<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s important to evaluate rookie quarterbacks patiently and resist the urge to overreact, regardless of whether the performance is dynamic or disastrous. Even in the modern NFL, when the best rookies no longer sit for a season before getting their shot, the quarterbacks need time. That acclimation period is essentially over for Bears rookie Justin Fields, though. He\u2019ll make his eighth start in the game against the Ravens on Sunday and he\u2019s coming up on the seven-month mark since he stepped into Halas Hall. With eight games left, especially given that he just had a week off to reset, this is the time for the Bears to make a clear assessment of Fields\u2019 progress under coach Matt Nagy. That evaluation goes both ways, with the Bears needing to gauge whether Fields is the franchise quarterback they believe he is and whether they should fire Nagy. Those are separate conversations. This one is about Fields. His position coach, John DeFilippo, described a typical quarterback\u2019s rookie season being marked by \u201cpeaks and valleys,\u201d and that\u2019s certainly been true for Fields. Calling his first start, a game in Cleveland that still makes everyone in the building wince when they think about it a \u201cvalley\u201d would be an understatement. It was more like plummeting into an abyss. On the flipside, he nearly scaled a mountain with his late rally against the Steelers in his most recent start. As Fields gets more comfortable with the speed and complexity of NFL defenses, the Bears hope to narrow that wide range of possible outcomes. They want him to level out to a point where they generally know what they\u2019re going to get every week. His season statistics \u2014 59% completions,142.4 yards passing per game, four touchdowns, eight interceptions,69.4 passer rating \u2014 don\u2019t come close to showing how volatile his season has been. He posted a career-best 91.9 rating to beat the Raiders in Week 5 and looked very good the last two games, but it was just three games ago that he imploded with three interceptions and two lost fumbles in a nightmare loss to the Buccaneers. Brutal performances like that inevitably are part of the growing process for quarterbacks. Bills quarterback Josh Allen had similar numbers in his first seven starts and has blossomed into an MVP candidate. Former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had 11 turnovers in his first seven starts on his way to becoming a four-time Pro Bowler who probably could\u2019ve spent two decades in the NFL if he wanted. Same story for eventual MVP Cam Newton, who took the Panthers to the Super Bowl. How quickly a quarterback finds his footing often depends significantly on the infrastructure around him, and that\u2019s a serious concern as the Bears plunge in the standings. It\u2019s going to make Fields\u2019 job that much more challenging as the defense deteriorates with outside linebacker Khalil Mack out for the season and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks out Sunday. It\u2019ll put pressure on him to score enough points to keep up, and he\u2019ll be attempting that in a shaky environment. Nagy has a lot to prove, it\u2019s hard to fully trust an offensive line that has looked better lately but hasn\u2019t buried the skepticism and now Fields could be missing his alpha wide receiver as Allen Robinson is doubtful due to a hamstring injury. That being said, Fields\u2019 current circumstances might be indicative of what he\u2019ll contend with for a while with the Bears, so he might as well get used to it. Like many quarterback-desperate teams who draft quarterbacks in the first round, the Bears took Fields in the hope that he would offset a mountain of mistakes. It\u2019s a lot to ask, but the next eight games should tell them whether he\u2019s up to it.<\/p>\n