Evaluating the 2022 Chicago Bears - A Look Back
Did they Meet Their Goals?
As debate rages about whether to keep or trade Justin Fields, it makes sense to look back to see how things got to this point. So here is my post from January 2023 discussing how well the Bears accomplished the goal of developing Fields in the first year under Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus.
Following an abysmal 2022-2023 season, it is time to look back at the 3-14 Chicago Bears, and how well they accomplished their objectives coming into the year. In my opinion the three objectives the Bears should have been focused on were developing Justin Fields, restructuring the roster and salary cap position to work toward the next off-season and accumulating draft capital for a rebuild. In this post, I will look at Justin Fields’ progression in his sophomore season.
When you look on paper, it’s no secret that the 2022-2023 Chicago Bears had a very poor season. However, if you talk to Bears fans, most of them will tell you this was one of the most exciting 3-win seasons they’ve ever watched. The main reason behind that is because of one man, Justin Fields. The Chicago Bears coaching staff went into this season with one main objective in mind, develop the young QB.
Taking a glance at Fields and his sophomore year
Coming into the 2022 NFL season, quarterback Justin Fields was expected to have a massive leap in development, despite having one of, if not the worst supporting cast in the league. However, he still managed to seemingly break a different NFL record every other week. The most notable record that he broke came in their week nine bout against the Miami Dolphins. Fields broke the NFL record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history, rushing for 178 yards on 16 carries. The record had previously been held by former Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick, who had 173 rushing yards.
How did the Bears franchise make that happen? Despite the historic season Fields had on the ground, he showed quite a few struggles in the passing game in the beginning of the season. One reason was the lack of talent around him. He was missing elite receivers and pass protection. The coaching staff eventually changed their scheme to play to his strengths – athleticism and play-making. They called more designed quarterback runs and passing plays where Fields could get outside the pocket. The change in scheme brought out more confidence and allowed his natural leadership to blossom. This was shown in several games where he led late drives that could have been game-winning, if not for crucial dropped passes and defensive failures. Even so, by the end of the season Fields had been sacked 55 times and had missed a few games due to injuries.
Did the Bears organization succeed in their objective to develop Justin Fields this year? I say they did as well as they could considering how far they have to go in the rebuild. I will grade the team’s rebuilding progress in the next posts. As for Fields, just keep in mind the leap that Bills quarterback Josh Allen took in his third year, when his front office gave him offensive help. And consider how similar Fields’ and Allen’s first two years went:
|
|
Fields 2021 |
Fields 2022 |
Allen 2018 |
Allen 2019 |
|
Games |
12 |
15 |
12 |
16 |
|
Pass Yards |
1,807 |
2,242 |
2,074 |
2,089 |
|
Comp % |
58.9 |
60.4 |
52.8 |
58.8 |
|
Pass TD |
7 |
17 |
10 |
20 |
|
Int |
10 |
11 |
12 |
9 |
|
Rating |
73.2 |
85.2 |
67.9 |
85.3 |
|
Rush Yards |
420 |
1,143 |
631 |
510 |
|
Rush TD |
2 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
