The Chicago Bears gave Justin Fields zero help to begin the game
On Fields’ first drive, the Bears were already backed up on their own 13-yard line to start. His inaugural drive featured a hand-off to Damien Williams which went for a yard, a completion to Damiere Byrd, and then two straight false start penalties. With the Bears backed up near their own goal line, Fields completed a pass to give them some room to punt.
From there, Nagy called three pass plays in a row to watch the Bears go 3-and-out after Fields delivered a beautiful third-down pass that fell incomplete. Zero runs and zero play action — that didn’t help Fields at all.
On Fields’ third drive, the snap was drilled at his feet on first down which was thankfully recovered by Khalil Herbert. On second down, Nagy called another pass play in which Fields was under pressure. Then, on third down, Fields escaped pressure and made his only real error of the game where he tried to spin and fumbled. The Bears recovered and punted, but once again, Nagy called zero run plays and zero play action for his mobile quarterback.
It wasn’t until Fields took his fourth possession with under a minute to go, and had to do a lot of the work himself, that he looked comfortable and moved the chains.
Many wanted to be quick to say how Fields looked like he didn’t belong in the first half, but watching the tape back, nobody did the kid any favors. Not his coaches, teammates — nobody. To essentially be playing against your own rookie quarterback in the first half was nothing short of surprising.