(670 The Score) Bears quarterback Justin Fields had another rough game Sunday as Chicago dropped to 0-2 with a 27-17 loss at Tampa Bay.
Fields was 16-of-29 for 211 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and a 61.1 passer rating. His first interception was a back-breaker, as Buccaneers edge rusher Shaq Barrett read a middle screen with the Bears backed up to their own end zone and produced pick-six on a four-yard return to give Tampa Bay a 26-17 lead with 2:03 remaining.
Fields was also sacked six times, and a few times those losses were entirely on him as he held the ball too long. It was a sign that Fields is struggling to control the offense, 670 The Score midday host Laurence Holmes said.
“It’s not happening fast enough,” Holmes said of Fields. “And you can use that for a couple different things when it comes to Justin Fields. The development doesn’t look like it’s happening fast enough, and it doesn’t look like he’s processing the plays fast enough, like getting through all of it and making a decision to throw the ball down the field.”
Holmes credited Fields for leading the Bears on a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, one on which he went 6-for-6 for 92 yards and a touchdown strike to receiver Chase Claypool, but that “doesn’t happen soon enough in games and it doesn’t happen often enough in games,” Holmes said.
“After the first drive of this game, Fields was under pressure,” Holmes said. “He also looked confused. He had multiple drives where if you want to put the blame on him, you can – holding the ball too long, not being decisive, not even taking it and running.”
Fields is now 5-22 in the NFL as a starting quarterback.
“It’s not happening fast enough, and that’s something the Bears are going to have to figure out,” Holmes said. “Clearly, there are things you can see and you can say, ‘Well, there’s something there.’ But that only goes for so long. And now you’re talking about him going into his 28th start, and there haven’t been enough of those moments where you feel like he’s in control of the game, that he’s in control of the offense. And it’s disappointing. It’s tremendously disappointing for everyone involved.”