Justin Fields Might Be a Problem for the Vikings in Year Two

Dec 12, 2021; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields (1) rushes for nine yards in the second quarter during the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bears went all-in on the 2021 draft to get who they hope is their QB of the future. They traded the 20th overall pick, the 161st overall pick, and their 2022 first and fifth round picks to get their paws on Justin Fields.

The young cub certainly struggled during his first year of NFL play, but multiple factors led to that. For one, Matt Nagy was his head coach and was unable to consistently draw up an effective offense regardless of who was the QB. Granted, having Mitch Trubisky, Andy Dalton, or a rookie Fields doesn’t provide a ton of options, but new faces leading the offense should provide a fresh perspective in Fields’ second season.

On top of that, the quality of opponent that Fields and the Bears were playing was quite high. In fact, 8 of the 12 games that the rookie QB appeared in were against playoff teams, including both Super Bowl participants. This year, the Bears have seven of their games against 2021 playoff teams.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1024556″ player=”26281″ title=”Vikings%20Rookie%20OT%20Vederian%20Lowe%20Joins%20&#39Bleav%20in%20Vikings&#39″ duration=”2927″ description=”At the 24:00 mark, Vederian Lowe joins to talk about his first few weeks with the Vikings.” uploaddate=”2022-06-02″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/snapshot/1024556_th_1654194564.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/sd/1024556.mp4″ width=”16″ height=”9″]

With Luke Getsy as his offensive coordinator and a lighter schedule, Justin Fields and the Bears could prove to be a burden for the Minnesota Vikings. Thus far into the summer, Fields has impressed with his work on the field, and the formula to unleash the QB is quite similar to how the Vikings need to use Kirk Cousins in 2022.

It’s play-action. The Bears have a multitude of fast receivers on their team, including free agent acquisition Byron Pringle, and a consistent play action approach, especially with talented RBs on the roster like David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert, forces the safeties to respect the running game.

Per Pro-Football-Reference, the Chicago Bears ran the second-fewest play action snaps in the entire NFL, only ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals. A straight drop back approach is fine when a star like Joe Burrow is running the offense with multiple snappy route-runners. When you’re trying to develop a rookie QB though? That probably isn’t the type of route you want to take.

Every year, there are surprises across the NFL. If Getsy is able to pull these strings in order to maximize Fields, the Chicago Bears could find themselves right back in the playoff hunt alongside Minnesota.

Share: