Comparing Justin Fields rookie season to Mitch Trubisky with Chicago Bears
When the Chicago Bears traded up for Justin Fields many saw it as the team finally getting the quarterback position right. Of course, then Matt Nagy decided to be stubborn on his commitment to Andy Dalton, and the rookie did not get off to a strong start to his career.
Still, even though Justin Fields was hindered by the team around him, Mitch Trubisky was just in the same spot as Fields last season, so it is worth wondering how the two differed?
It has to be noted that Trubisky was a fourth-year veteran at that point, so we will see how Trubisky was as a rookie compared to Fields as a rookie. Both wound up playing for lame-duck coaches, and both had that coach insistent on starting the veteran over him. Was Fields worse as a rookie than Trubisky?
The raw stats are below.
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| Rk | Player | Year | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Rate | Int | Sk | Y/A | AY/A | NY/A | ANY/A | Att | Yds | TD |
| 1 | Justin Fields | 2021 | 2-8-0 | 159 | 270 | 58.9 | 1870 | 7 | 73.2 | 10 | 36 | 6.9 | 5.78 | 5.25 | 4.24 | 72 | 420 | 2 |
| 2 | Mitchell Trubisky | 2017 | 4-8-0 | 196 | 330 | 59.4 | 2193 | 7 | 77.5 | 7 | 31 | 6.6 | 6.12 | 5.53 | 5.05 | 41 | 248 | 2 |
| 3 | Mitchell Trubisky | 2020 | 6-3-0 | 199 | 297 | 67.0 | 2055 | 16 | 93.5 | 8 | 18 | 6.9 | 6.78 | 6.13 | 6.00 | 33 | 195 | 1 |
Overall, Fields had the same number of touchdowns on 60 fewer attempts. Still, he had a lower adjusted net yards per attempt rating and a slightly lower passer rating. Fields took five more sacks on 60 fewer attempts, which is his biggest issue as a passer.
To make up for that, he has more to bring with his legs, but overall, there is not a huge difference between the two as rookies. That difference may come in the advanced stats.
With the help of RBSDM.com, and PFF, below you can see how they compare in EPA+CPOE, EPA per play, Success Rate, CPOE, Air yards, big-time throws, turnover worthy plays, and pressure to sack rate.
No stat is perfect, but these help us tell a better picture of how these quarterbacks operated.
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Overall, Trubisky in 2020 was better than Fields in 2021. However, you can see that they were playing different styles of quarterback. Trubisky was more successful and more accurate but was averaging two fewer yards per attempt. He also was completing about half as many big-time throws and nearly twice as many turnover-worthy plays.
When you add in that Fields had a 3% higher sack rate you can see that Fields was much more aggressive than Trubisky. Perhaps the offense allowed him to be that way, but Trubisky was safer and may have run the offense more to script. Fields may have broken script more often and had big benefits and big failures.
Next. Best comparison to Justin Fields rookie season. dark
Still, when you break down the comparisons of Fields in 2021 to the rookie season of Trubisky you see that Fields was more efficient on a play-by-play basis, and was much more successful as a playmaker. Trubisky turned the ball over a bit less, but the rookie season of Fields was better than the rookie season of Trubisky by most measures.