(Audacy) Bears quarterback Justin Fields had a lot of pressure on him heading into Week 1, and it only intensified on him and his entire offense after Chicago's 38-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Soldier Field.
A major problem for the Bears was their poor offensive performance. On the 1st & Pod podcast, 670 The Score host Danny Parkins sounded off on the Bears’ “cowardly” play-calling that he deemed “coaching malpractice” Sunday.
“I’ve lived through Aaron Kromer and Matt Nagy and Gary Crowton and Dowell Loggains and terrible, terrible … offensive game plans and play-calling,” Parkins said (18:20 in player above). “What in the ever-loving bleep are they doing with Justin Fields where he throws the ball 37 times and three of them travel more than 10 yards in the air? Three of them!”
Fields was 24-for-37 for 216 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked four times for a loss of 27 yards.
In Parkins' mind, the Bears' game-planning and play-calling just didn’t add up with someone like Fields under center.
“DJ Moore had two targets when the game mattered," Parkins said. "They were down 24-6 and he had two targets. What is the point of having the most gifted athlete in the sport at quarterback with a massive arm and a No. 1 receiver who you trade the first overall pick for to skip on a quarterback if you’re not going to throw the damn ball down the field?”
Moore caught both of his targets, for 14 yards and 11 yards, but it ultimately didn’t make much of a difference.
“And then when he threw the ball down the field, they score a touchdown! To Darnell Mooney,” Parkins exclaimed. “No designed runs. Every run that he had was a tuck and run. It was unbelievable. It was so cowardly. It was coaching malpractice.”
Despite no designed runs, Fields was the Bears’ leading rusher with 59 yards on nine carries. He nearly had more rushing yards than running backs Khalil Herbert (27 yards on nine carries), Roschon Johnson (20 yards on five carries), and D’Onta Foreman (16 yards on five carries) combined.