Bear Digest

Justin Fields Still Getting No Official Respect

An uncalled late hit by Za'Darius Smith on Justin Fields before the half only followed up on the trend of the Bears QB taking questionable hits without flags.
Gene Chamberlain|
Justin Fields Still Getting No Official Respect
Justin Fields Still Getting No Official Respect

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Chicago Bears

Whether you put Justin Fields in line for prominent blame in Sunday's 20-17 loss to Cleveland or not, one thing is certain.

NFL officials just don't seem to see things the way he does. The trouble is, they often seem to see it for Fields differently than they see it for other quarterbacks.

Fields again took an unnecessary cheap shot and this one was blatant. It was an unpenalized and obvious roughing-the-quarterback call against Za'Darius Smith.

Fields had thrown the Hail Mary to end the half and Smith made a run at him while he was throwing. The ball was obviously out and Fields was starting to straighten up after throwing when Smith hit Fields from behind and knocked him to the ground in full view of officials.

The play occurred from the 37-yard line of Cleveland after the Bears decided against a 55-yard field goal into a 13-mph wind, so a 15-yard penalty against the Browns would have put the kick well within the kicking range of Cairo Santos for an untimed down to end the half.

Asked if he thought he was roughed on the play, Fields said, "I felt like I was."

A post-play conversation with the official did nothing to satisfy him as teams went off to the locker room.

"I was really was just talking to him," Fields said. "I asked him for an explanation. He gave me a detailed explanation.

"He said, I think it as to be, he said something about a hit to the head and something about resetting. It was kind of confusing to me. But I mean play's over. Can't do anything about it. Move on."

The three points they could have easily had then never occurred and they definitely needed it at game's end.

This all occurred in a week when Fields had to address the topic, except it was in relation then to how he is hit often while sliding after scrambling. He said he always discusses the situation with officials.

"I talk to them before every game, literally talk to the ref before every game," he said. "It happened on the first play of the (Detroit) game and didn't get the call. I really can't do anything about it, so get up and move on to the next play."

And he talked to referee Brad Allen on Sunday.

The Bears came into the game one of four teams not to benefit from a roughing-the-passer call this year, according to nflpenalties.com. The other teams were Green Bay, the Giants and Miami.

As a epilogue to the entire affair, Fields got assessed an interception on his stats for the Hail Mary at the end of the first half and replays show the ball clearly hitting the ground before Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had it in his possession. There goes the old passer rating.

Officials didn't even give Fields the right call on the other end of the throw, either.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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