Is Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields on pace to break this record?

We have already seen Justin Fields break the single-game rushing record. Heck, right now it feels like every week is a race against the rushing record. So, as he continues to set history every week, the question becomes, when will he set single-season history? Could the Chicago Bears quarterback break the record for most rushing yards by a QB in the NFL?

The record was broken not long ago by Lamar Jackson. Jackson posted 1,206 yards during his MVP season in 2019. He went over 1,000 again in 2020, and he has two of the three times a quarterback has ever gone over 1,000, the third being Mike Vick.

Justin Fields has seven games to go, can he set the record by the end of the season?

Will the Chicago Bears quarterback break the single-season rushing record?

So far this season Justin Fields has 749 yards. If the season ended today, he would already finish 15th all-time in rushing yards by a quarterback. That would put him 457 yards away with seven games to go. On that pace, he would need to average 65.3 yards per game. That seems doable for Justin Fields, who is currently at 74.9 rushing yards per game.

If he just keeps up his current pace, he will finish with 1,273, breaking the mark by about 67 yards. Still, over the past four games, he has averaged 117 yards per game. At that pace, he would shatter the record with a few games to go.

One thing that is worth noting is that the Chicago Bears have an extra game this season, while the Ravens still had a 16-game schedule. Beyond that, Jackson missed the final game of the season because they were the one-seed. So, he broke the record in 15 games.

Fields could be on pace to do it in the same number of games. However, right now he is averaging 74.9 yards per game, while Jackson was at 80.4 yards per game. Fields is at 7.2 yards per attempt, while Jackson was at 6.9, so Fields is running a bit more. Beyond that, if he keeps up his pace from the last month, he will push his season average up well above 74.

Fields’ average total is down a bit due to the start of his season, so the rate of recent play suggests that he would finish over 80 rushing yards per game as well.

If anything it will be great to follow whether Justin Fields can break Lamar Jackson’s NFL record and if he can do it in the same number of games.