Are they trying to ruin another franchise QB? With Justin Fields status questionable against the New York Jets as he suffered a dislocated shoulder yesterday, it honestly seems like the Bears coaching staff is trying to break their franchise QB before his development is complete.
Justin Fields will not last 5 years in the NFL if the Bears continue to use him as a downhill, grounding, hardnose running back week after week. Not only is Fields supposed to be a versatile, dual threat QUARTERBACK who can run on occasion, but he is also ‘only’ 227 lbs.
Sure, that’s pretty big for a quarterback, but it’s laughably small for a defensive player that is looking to crack him whenever he comes rushing towards them.
Given how the average NFL linebacker weighs approximately 245 lbs., the average NFL defensive end weighs 280 lbs., and the average NFL defensive tackle weighs north of 300 lbs., it’s obvious that Fields is completely outmatched when it comes to a defender tackling him. Without the protection of his 300+lbs. lineman, Fields gets cracked when he is used as a rusher. A lot.
That’s how he dislocated his shoulder last game as he was rushing to pick up a First Down against the Falcons. He was drilled to the ground by Dee Alford, a corner back of similar stature, and landed directly on his now-dislocated shoulder.
Dislocated shoulders are quite a common occurrence for the regular running back and should not be seen as career threating, but a quarterback to have a dislocated shoulder is something entirely different.
A quarterback needs to have a strong, healthy shoulder to be able to zip the ball downfield without any hindrance. What good is a quarterback that can’t get any velocity or air on a football they throw as the ligaments and tendons in their arms are strain, ripped, and permanently damaged?
Luckily, it was not his throwing shoulder that was injured, but it’s only a matter of time before that one gets damaged with all of the running Bears HC Matt Eberfus is making him do. Already being the NFL 5th leading rusher with 834 yards and 6 rushing TDs, Fields is also the NFL’s most sacked quarterback as he’s been drilled to the ground 40 times!
I’m starting to get really worried that Justin Fields, who is more than capable of being the accurate pocket passer we saw at Ohio State, is going to end up as the next Andrew Luck.
A franchise talent that is more than capable of leading an organization to a Super Bowl and amassing huge offensive stats through both his arm and legs but gets forced into an early retirement after being beaten down behind poor offensive lines and naive coaches.
Fields is far too good to have a fate like that happen to him (just like Andrew Luck), which makes it all the more pressing for the Bears hierarchy to shore up their offensive line and to tell Matt Eberfus to keep Fields in the pocket or else his job is on the line.
But, seeing as the Bears owner, Virgina Halas-McCaskey (yup, the daughter to that George Halas), is a 99-year-old woman (God bless her) who was born almost a decade before the Great Depression and her sons have proven to be ineffective stewards, I don’t see the Bears changing anything about their style. I fear Justin Fields is in for a short NFL career the longer he stays in Chicago in its current state.
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