Justin Fields Explains Postgame Comment
It may not have required an apology or explanation but Justin Fields offered one up just the same.
Sort of.
Fields said Wednesday he meant nothing disrespectful to fans when he made a statement after Sunday night's loss that some social media turned into a crusade against the Bears quarterback.
Whether he actually needed to asuage anger may not have been necessary because of the truth to his comment but he did seem reticent just the same.
After the game, Fields was asked if the sting he felt was because fans wanted them to win that game over Green Bay so much.
"I mean it hurts more in the locker room than the Bears fans because at the end of the day they're not putting in any work," Fields said then. "I see the guys in the locker room every day, I see how much work they put in so just coming out with a disappointing loss like this it hurts, but we've just got to respond."
On Wednesday
"Yeah, I was mad after the game," Fields said. ""I'd like to address this now to get everything cleared up. There was a thing I said on Sunday after the game where I said the fans don't put in work. First off, I was frustrated after the game. Number one, I didn't want to talk to you guys (media). I wasn't in the mood to come and talk to you guys. So, I should've done a better job of explaining what I meant by that.
"What I meant by that is I'm talking about work regarding the game on Sunday, winning the game. I don't know any fans. I don't know what they're doing in their personal lives. I respect every fan that we have. I'm glad that we have fans. I would never disrespect anybody on what they do or what they love to do. It came off like that. Some social media outlets, they quoted ny quote and they got a big buzz out of it. So, of course they did a great job doing that. Of course social media is going to do that. But I just wanted to clear that up."
It wasn't a case where Fields only heard about the criticism second hand.
"I mean I was getting tagged in a bunch of stuff on social media, so the fans definitely let me know, for sure," Fields said. "Again, I didn't mean it to come off like that.
"But of course Barstool (Sports) or whatever tried to make it seem like I did, so they did a good job of doing that, and there were people who bought into that, so hey, just clearing that up."
Fields was upset enough by the social media firestorm that he sought out advice on it.
"I talked to my dad about it, and as long as I'm going to be in this position there's going to be stuff like that that pops up, so just knowing that as long as I'm in this profession that it's never going to go away, so just gotta either be really clear to everything that I say, be really descriptive to what I mean, or really just don't say anything at all."
Fields hasn't been the most open player with the media since coming to Chicago. He thinks he might change this somewhat.
"I think I am just kind of testing the waters a little bit," he said. "But you know I want to show you guys more personality. I don't want to be a robot up here so at the same time I just have to be more descriptive of my words and really just describe on what I'm trying to say rather than, you know, I mean I could be up here and be like, 'yes, we're going to do this and that' and just be a robot.
"But I try to show my personality to the world, try to show my personality to you guys, to show that I am a real person and yes I do make mistakes. But yes, I'm just finding a good balance."
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