How Chicago Bears rookies performed against the Bengals
The Chicago Bears rookies now have two weeks under their belt. Sadly, Larry Borom was out as expected, along with Tevin Jenkins, who has to sit out at least one more week. Khyiris Tonga saw some playing action as the nose tackle but wasn’t noticeable enough to get a grade. Thomas Graham Jr and Dazz Newsome are still on the practice squad. Only four rookies were on the 53 man roster for week two. It seems that Caleb Johnson, Khalil Herbert, and Justin Fields are the remaining players on the active roster during game days. How long that will be will be dependent on Danny Trevathan and Mario Edwards Jr.
The Chicago Bears and head coach Matt Nagy are not following the Kansas City ways by not putting their rookie quarterback on the field early and often. Justin Fields has already doubled the number of games Patrick Mahomes faced during his rookie season. Fields finished 6 of 13 for 60 yards passing and a pick.
Fields did rush for 30 yards on 10 carries which is a lot more rushing attempts than I would have thought he would be doing at the NFL level. The pocket passer in Justin Fields was tricked late in the game by a cover zero lock which the linebacker dropped into coverage to almost have a game-changing turnover. Justin Fields did what he does best and didn’t let his previous mistake change his plans to seal the victory for the Chicago Bears.
I compared Justin Fields to Russell Wilson during the draft process. Fields tossed a dime ball to Allen Robinson that was dropped in the endzone that would have had fans chanting to start him. Jimmy Graham also failed to attempt to block for Fields on a scramble that would have opened the door to another touchdown. So while Fields on paper didn’t look ready, he might be prepared much sooner rather than later.
On a side note, Justin Fields is even faster than his pro-day numbers show. While I still believe he is a pocket passer who can run, Justin Fields might be (at the NFL level) a scrambler who knows how to throw. The difference is, would you rather have a Russell Wilson who is faster and bigger or a Robert Griffen III who doesn’t have accuracy concerns? Either way, I think he might be the RG3 type.