Priority One for Justin Fields

The Bears want to see great progress from Justin Fields in 2022, it's true.

Showing some might have an impact on how much confidence they have in him going forward to 2023, but that's an issue for another day.

For now, they need to see one quality more than any other from Fields and it's not something entirely on him but he can control a lot of it. It's pretty simple.

Fields has to be healthy and play all season, or almost all season. Once he began starting last year, he only started 10 of a possible 15 games.

It makes all the difference in the world to have the starting quarterback available on a week-in, week-out basis.

Tight end Cole Kmet was asked about his own progress over the last two years, including the lack of a touchdown catch last year, and he pointed out how disruptive it is when the starting quarterback is gone. The Bears made five quarterback changes last year.

"Yeah so the thing when you look back on it you know you see that, I mean really, from my first two years here I've had a lot of not just quarterbacks but quarterback changes," Kmet said. "So it's tough. I mean it's tough on a player trying to get a feel for guys and you know different kind of scheme changes depending on who the quarterback is."

It could sound like excuse-making to some, but the receivers who make the most receptions and are part of good passing attacks are those who are playing with the same quarterback all of the time. The Bears had five switches last year and two in 2020 when opening day starter Mitchell Trubisky played only nine games.

In 2021, 10 of the top 15 pass catchers played for teams who had the same starting quarterback for at least 16 games.

Only Jaylen Waddle of the Dolphins, D.J. Moore of the Panthers, Zach Ertz of the Cardinals, and both Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown of the Ravens ranked in the top 15 in catches and played on teams that had to use backups for more than one game.

In 2020, it was only three of the top 15 playing for teams with backups starting for more than one game, and one of those was Allen Robinson. He somehow put up a big catch total with the QB position shifting back and forth between Foles (7 starts) and Trubisky (9 starts).

If a team wants to establish its passing game and the connection between quarterback and receivers, they need the same quarterback on the field all the time. It's common sense.

Of course, with the Bears it could be difficult because they're starting out this season with a rebuilt offensive line. The line is one of their biggest question marks.

It's not all on their line. Fields needs to do his part.

1. He needs to learn how to slide and when to do it. The Bears need to make this a big part of his training in the offense. If it means giving up a first down to slide, then so be it. Live for another day. Fields took a real beating against the Baltimore Ravens because he wasn't getting down fast enough last year.

2. He needs to know when to go out of bounds The Vikings game in Chicago was a perfect example of being roughed up along the sidelines because he didn't go out of bounds fast enough.

3. He needs to get rid of the ball faster when he's throwing to targets, and they're working on this even in OTAs. Fields took the fourth most time last year to pass according to Next Gen stats. He took too many hits after passing. The Pittsburgh game, when former NFL official Tony Corrente allowed Fields to get knocked around after plays but protected Ben Roethlisberger is a good example of what can happen if you hold the ball too long and have bad officiating.

4. Running needs to be a last option. Scrambling or buying time with his feet remains a way Fields should be able to hurt opponents because of his speed but it needs to be done wisely.

5. The coaching staff needs to work with Fields on where he needs to exit the pocket when he decides to scramble. Too often he tries to get away by running back or to one side instead of stepping up. Stepping up to throw or to run not only leads to more big plays but doesn't leave him prone to being hit from the side by running laterally, the kind thing that leads knee injuries.

Last year Matt Nagy talked ad nauseam about Fields' toughness.

When Fields shows this, it usually means he's being hit too hard or too frequently and might even be hurt.

The Bears have plenty of things they need to do for Fields. They have to block better to avoid another fiasco like last year when their quarterbacks were sacked a league-high 58 time. They have altered the line, coaching staff and scheme, and will emphasize play-action passing to help this.

Fields has something he needs to do for them and that's try to stay as healthy as he possibly can. He needs to learn to play another day.

Self preservation needs to be Fields' first goal after getting sacked 36 times himself, running with it 72 times and being hit on countless throws.

If he can't do this, then showing how much he has improved won't be possible anyway.

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