2. Justin Fields has to hold onto the football if the Chicago Bears are going to trust him
Justin Fields has worked on staying in the pocket and getting the ball out more often. However, this has come at a small cost. In the last two weeks, he has had three fumbles, compared to four in the six games prior.
This issue appears to be less about sack avoidance and more about issues in close games. He had devastating fumbles against the Buccaneers and Broncos in games where he could ice the game. He fumbled on a strip sack late against Detroit, fumbled twice while trying to put the game away, and then came back against Minnesota.
It is a serious problem that almost all of his fumbles come in the moments when you need your best player to be clutch. Fields got his first game-winning drive but only needed to do so because of his first fumble, and his second fumble showed him blowing his first shot at the drive. He will only get so many second chances at a game-winning drive. Can he do right the first time around without fumbles? Can he limit turnovers? He has a 5.3% turnover-worthy throw rate since his return, and his career rate is 3.9%.