Parting Justin Fields Observations?

Matt Nagy thought back to the night in Pittsburgh when he saw something new and exciting from Justin Fields.

With Fields' season done and Friday's final practice of the season over, it seemed a good time for reflection. Besides, it's entirely possible Nagy might not get another chance to talk about it.

"When you go back to that night in Pittsburgh, I'll always remember that being a moment right then and there for a long time of like I told you, where he just kind of looked at me and just smiled, (saying) like, 'Get ready to watch what's gonna happen.' " Nagy said.

What transpired was a drive to a go-ahead touchdown that would have been a game-winning score except the Bears defense quickly squandered i.

"And then for that to happen, I do feel like that was growth up until that point and we're taking off," Nagy said.

It didn't happen quite that way as Fields struggled early against Baltimore, then went out with broken ribs, returned not quite as sharp as where he'd left off and suffered an ankle injury and finally COVID-19.

Still, Nagy sees signs of development even if circumstances prevented consistent development.

"He's gotten better, he's improved," Nagy said. "He knows that he can improve and is gonna continue to keep improving, but that's all. That’s just how it goes.

"It would have been interesting to keep it consistent, but that's not the way it went and fortunately we have Andy (Dalton) and Nick (Foles) there to protect us in this situation."

It's easy to look at Fields' quarterback rating of just 73.2, his 10 interceptions to only seven touchdown passes for 12 games played and 10 starts and call it a disappointing year.

Mitchell Trubisky even had a higher passer rating as a rookie (77.5), although plenty of good quarterbacks have been worse. Josh Allen's was 67.9, Jared Goff's 63.6, Zach Wilson's is 69.9 and Trevor Lawrence's is 69.6.

It's even easier to look at the Bears scoring just two wins in those 10 starts while Dalton and Foles have gone 4-2 in their starts, then deduce this is a potential mistaken draft pick by GM Ryan Pace.

Obviously it wouldn't be his first.

"The win-loss record, that's a team deal there," Nagy said. "We can look at what happened in each of those games and there's some that you go back and you watch and you see it. I think that's all part of the process, too, is understanding and knowing that you win as a team and you lose as a team."

Fields can't be absolved of all blame. He fumbled 12 times and even though some poor pass blocking caused it at times, he also held the ball too long or held the ball in risky positions.

His average of 6.9 yards per pass attempt is definitely not poor for a rookie and the encouraging aspect of it all were those "wow" moments when he did things mediocre players simply can't. It fuels hope for the future as much as anything.

"There's been some great moments for Justin this year where, I know we all remember that fourth-and-1 that he had to scramble for a touchdown," Nagy said, recalling the run to one side against San Francisco, then back around the other side for a 22-yard touchdown.

"Again, that felt like a moment where he made a big play," Nagy said. "There's several more that go on. All these competitive guys, they care about the win-loss record. That’s all they care about in the end."

If they could have managed a few more of those and a more productive offense, it might not have sounded like Nagy was talking about the team's first-round draft pick for the last time.

"He's done a phenomenal job, and he's gonna continue to grow as is only normal, but with time," Nagy said. "It's gonna take time for any of these quarterbacks as they grow in this league, and he's done a wonderful job of being accepting to all of that."

Justin Fields' Top 10 Moments

1. The fourth-and-1 TD run of 22 yards vs. 49ers.

2. The go-ahead TD pass to Darnell Mooney rolling left vs. Pittsburgh.

3. Bullet pass up the seam in a crowd for 28 yards to Jimmy Graham vs. Pittsburgh.

4. Third-and-12 pass for 13 yards over the middle to Mooney against the Raiders, leading to a scoring drive to clinch a 20-9 win.

5. The first-quarter TD pass of 8 yards by Fields rolling left across his body to Jesse James against San Francisco.

6. A 64-yard completion to Mooney against Detroit to help start the easy victory. It was his first long ball and his longest completion of the year.

7. The 39-yard pass to Allen Robinson against Pittsburgh in the fourth-quarter drive to a go-ahead TD.

8. The 54-yard TD pass to slanting Damiere Byrd in the second quarter to retake the lead 17-14 over Green Bay in their second game.

9. The 5-yard fourth-quarter TD pass to Mooney rallied the Bears back within 17-14 against Green Bay before the Bears defense caved in the next drive.

10. A second-and-1 pass for 29 yards to Baltimore's 34 in the first quarter that was made running to his right and dropped in to a running Mooney along the sidelines in coverage with his back to Fields.

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