Speaking to reporters after his team’s 45-30 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Nagy praised Fields for beating a blitz with an 11-yard floater to midfield on first down.
Fields has produced a number of other positive moments in nine starts, but the discrepancy between the ups and downs of his rookie season has been historic.
Fields has four games remaining to adjust the narrative, but as he prepares for Monday night’s matchup against the Minnesota Vikings , it’s worth peeling away the noise and looking at the carnage to this point from a dispassionate perspective.
As a team, they have attempted an NFL-low 136 passes on first down, when defenses are likely to be in their most neutral sets.
Although the Bears have averaged a decent 4.24 yards on first-down rushes, they have still set up Fields for too many predictable passes on second down.
He has the NFL’s highest rates of interceptions and sacks, is tied for the league lead in fumbles and has been off target on the second-highest rate of his throws.
On 95 third-down plays, Fields has completed 33 passes, thrown six interceptions and been sacked 12 times.
For perspective, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady leads the league with 27 touchdowns on 110 red zone plays.
It’s fair to examine the role of pass protection amid the disaster of a highly mobile quarterback like Fields taking sacks and hits at a higher rate than any other quarterback.
But it’s worth noting that Fields has held the ball for an average of 2.87 seconds before throwing, seventh longest in the league.
He has suffered injuries to his ribs and left hand, but he has pushed through and does not appear to have been fazed by high-profile struggles in a big media market.
“That’s one of the hardest things,” Fields said, ” when you are losing, there are so many people saying this and that.
An argument could be made that Fields’ worst games, in Week 3 against the Browns and Week 7 against the Buccaneers, are behind him.