If you win the coin toss and elect to take the ball with a stated desire of getting off to a fast start, then you best start fast. Especially against the reigning Super Bowl champions and an opposing offense led by the NFL’s all-time passing leader.
The Chicago Bears had the best intentions coming out of the gates Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. But their opening series went nowhere. Zero net yards. Three plays and a punt.
Then Tampa Bay Buccaneers returner Jaelon Darden broke free for 43 yards, Tom Brady and his offense took possession at the Bears 32-yard line and in three quick snaps, the cannons on the pirate ship were firing to signal a 7-0 Bucs lead.
The smoke never cleared and the Bears never caught up. Instead they were heaved into the choppiest of waters with a 38-3 loss.
“It’s all-encompassing,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said of his team’s breakdowns.
Most of Chicago agreed.
Honestly, an upset was never in the cards in this nightmarish matchup. So the result — a Bears loss on the road to a much better team — was fairly predictable. But certainly Nagy’s team hoped to have a better showing than a 35-point defeat in which it never scored a touchdown. And the meltdown began on that first series.
First down: A Khalil Herbert run for no gain.
Second down: Justin Fields was sacked and fumbled when the Bears failed to pick up a safety blitz.
Third down: Fields threw a 6-yard checkdown to tight end Jesse James on third-and-16.
Oh, well.
The Bears had their 19th possession this season without a first down and their 31st that didn’t cross midfield.
By game’s end, it was obvious they were broken. Their offense remains a total mess. Morale is dipping. The search for answers seems to have a malfunctioning GPS.
In a game in which the Bears trailed by at least 32 points for the entire second half, they somehow managed to pass for only 168 yards. They have yet to top 200 passing yards in a game this season.
Fields may be making modest growth, but little of it can be quantified at this stage. The rookie quarterback may be gaining valuable experience each week and learning to decode how defenses are attacking. But he’s also grinding through pronounced failure and not used to this level of individual struggle or team disappointment.
“I’ve never been in this position where I’m losing,” he said on the way out of Raymond James Stadium, “so I don’t know how to feel. My only reaction to this is just to keep working.”
That sets the stage for our Week 7 QB rewind.
Defining moment
For the second consecutive week, Fields threw an interception on what he believed could have been a free play. This one came on third-and-5 from the Bears 40 in the first quarter. Fields said he heard chatter in his headset alerting him that the Buccaneers had 12 men on the field. He barked for a quick snap from center Sam Mustipher and tried to capitalize.
Only problem? His receivers weren’t ready and the penalty was far from a given. Fields appeared ready to throw a quick pass to Marquise Goodwin on a 2-yard hitch route, but he double-clutched and didn’t pull the trigger. With the pocket collapsing, he used his athleticism to slip away from Jason Pierre-Paul, slipping out of the pocket and rolling right.
In an attempt to make something happen, Fields launched a deep ball toward Allen Robinson. But Robinson slipped and the pass, a bit off target and possibly forced, dropped into the hands of cornerback Dee Delaney.
Brutal.
Said Nagy: “You get to a point where you (should) throw the ball away or you run or something. Those are learning tools for him.”
That was Fields’ first of five turnovers. He threw three picks, lost two fumbles and was fortunate the Bears got the ball back on another fumble on the opening drive.
On that first pick, it’s hard to figure why the Bears were frantically seeking a 12-men-on-the-field penalty when the Bucs had only 11 on the field when Fields called for the snap. Somewhere in the process, there was a costly miscommunication. It led to a turnover. And for the second time in the first quarter, the Bucs took over inside Bears territory.
Six plays later, Brady threw his first touchdown pass of the day. The Bears were cooked.
Uh-oh
That’s the kind of day it was for Fields and the Bears offense. The rookie’s second pick came on a pass over the middle that was a touch high, ricocheted off Darnell Mooney’s hands and found its way to safety Jordan Whitehead. Fields’ third interception was worse, another deep shot to Robinson he significantly underthrew.
Facing second-and-11 from their 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Bears had little to lose with a deep shot. Against a disguised pressure, Fields let it fly. It just didn’t fly nearly far enough. Robinson did little to contest the pick, and cornerback Pierre Desir had an easy takeaway.
Nagy emphasized Monday that the turnover was, at least in part, a chemistry/communication issue between Fields and Robinson. That deep shot has different rules depending on whether the corner is playing off in coverage or pressing at the line of scrimmage. In that instance Desir was, per Nagy, in a bit of a gray area.
Where Fields threw the ball wasn’t where Robinson was. More film study is needed. More practice time is required.
Said Nagy: “When those two guys get together and start watching that exact situation — that play and that route versus that defense — they’ll fix that. And they’ll be able to make sure that doesn’t happen. Worst case, it would be an incompletion. Those are probably some of the things we’re going through where we need to make sure, ‘OK, hey, are we doing everything we can as coaches? And are they doing everything they can as players (to get it right)?’ “
Fields’ three fumbles all came against the Bucs’ fierce pass rush. On the game’s second snap, safety Antoine Winfield came screaming off the edge to Fields’ left, hit the quarterback hard from the blind side and knocked the ball loose. Running back Khalil Herbert, who owned up to being late in his blitz pickup responsibilities, pounced on the ball.
Fields fumbled twice more, once when Shaquil Barrett whipped right tackle Lachavious Simmons around the edge and hit Fields’ arm as he threw and again when Pierre-Paul blazed around Simmons and hit Fields at the top of his drop.
There was little Fields could have done on any of those fumbles. And it’s no wonder Simmons, who became a last-minute emergency starter in place of Elijah Wilkinson, lasted only 22 snaps before Alex Bars replaced him at right tackle.
Wilkinson’s absence — he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list late Sunday morning — was the latest setback for an offensive line that has struggled to find stability since training camp began. Germain Ifedi, the usual starter at right tackle, has missed the last two games with a knee injury. Wilkinson, who is unvaccinated, is on the reserve/COVID-19 list for the second time since early August.
Second-round draft pick Teven Jenkins hasn’t been through a full practice since minicamp in June, had back surgery in August and has an indefinite timetable for his return. Fellow rookie Larry Borom injured an ankle on a shovel pass against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1 and has yet to return to practice.
As Fields experiences his own growing pains, it won’t help his comfort level if his trust in his offensive line diminishes. That’s something to keep an eye on.
Whatever the reasons, five turnovers in a game is inexcusable. From the first series, it seemed as if Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles was drooling to come after Fields with a high volume of blitzes and a wide array of complex looks.
Said Bucs coach Bruce Arians: “Todd loves seeing rookie quarterbacks. (Our defense) had a great plan to get after him and really disguise coverages and utilize a bunch of different pressures. It was outstanding defense.”
On the bright side
Brace yourself, Bears fans. This may not be exactly what you’re looking for. But Nagy highlighted the pass Fields threw into the first row of seats beyond the north end zone as one of the few encouraging moments during a rough afternoon.
As Nagy reasoned, that easily could have been a turnover if Fields had given in to the familiar rookie urge to force the issue. Instead, he stayed within himself and settled for an incompletion.
That throw came in the second quarter on the Bears’ only scoring drive. On second-and-goal from just inside the 10, Fields appeared ready initially to send a fastball to Damiere Byrd near the front pylon, but he recognized tight coverage and didn’t take the chance.
With Robinson coming across the back of the end zone later in the play, Fields didn’t feel he had enough of an opening, and as the Bucs rush closed in on him near the right sideline, he chucked the ball out of the end zone.
Nagy identified that as “a good moment,” praising Fields for not trying to throw across his body with congestion in the end zone.
“I know like hell he wanted to throw the ball into the end zone and wanted to try to make a play and throw a touchdown,” Nagy said. “And he threw the ball out of bounds. That, to me, was simple growth for him. He made a good decision. He let us get to third down. And he didn’t force the ball like many rookies and many quarterbacks do.”
The Bears eventually squeezed a 28-yard Cairo Santos field goal out of the series.
Sure, that was a positive show of discipline and poise from Fields. But the fact Nagy gave it special mention in the aftermath of a 35-point road loss indicates how few silver linings there were.
Of Fields’ 43 pass plays — 32 throws plus four sacks and seven scrambles — only three went for at least 20 yards, including 22-yard completions in the second half to Mooney and Cole Kmet.
On the play-action connection to Mooney, Fields had to retreat in his drop farther than expected but still saw an open window with Mooney beating Delaney for a big gain.
Those kinds of plays are encouraging. But they need to be coming once a quarter at minimum. The Bears need to unlock their passing attack as soon as possible. Otherwise, lopsided losses like Sunday’s will keep coming.
Odds and ends
Brady threw four touchdown passes in a span of six possessions in the first half. The Bears have thrown only three touchdown passes in 70 possessions this season. Since joining the Bucs in 2020, Brady has 61 touchdown passes in 23 regular-season starts. If you took that 14-month sample and blended it into the Bears’ all-time passing annals, Brady would rank eighth in franchise history in touchdown passes, sandwiched between Erik Kramer and Ed Brown (tied for sixth with 63 apiece) and Jim Harbaugh (50) and not that far out of the top three. Billy Wade’s 68 TD passes rank third in Bears history. Brady is tied with Steve DeBerg for seventh in Buccaneers history.
Brady’s 600th career touchdown pass, an ever-expanding NFL record, came late in the first half when he hit Mike Evans on a basic 2-yard back-shoulder lob. Playground stuff. Too easy. On the previous play, Brady and Evans connected on the day’s longest play, a 46-yard completion up the left sideline with Evans getting the better of cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Brady wanted to keep the ball from the touchdown, but Evans initially gave it to a fan in the stands before the Bucs had to barter to get it back for their legendary quarterback. Said Brady: “I don’t actually keep too many things, though in that circumstance I just felt like that might be a good one to keep.”
The Buccaneers weren’t even all that sharp offensively and still rolled up 38 points and a blowout win. Brady’s 211 passing yards were a season low and 61% of his per-game average coming into the day. The Bucs missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter and stalled inside the red zone twice in the second half. They turned the ball over on a fourth-and-goal fumble by Ronald Jones at the 1 late in the third quarter, and Brady misfired on two short passes into the end zone on the next possession before Ryan Succop’s 22-yard field goal. In other words, for the Bears, the final damage could have been much worse. Said Arians: “We left about 20 points out there. … We scored 38 points and really did not play well offensively.” Think about that.
At least to this point, Fields doesn’t seem shaken by his inconsistency or the offense’s significant struggles. The 22-year-old quarterback has shown an understanding that his growth curve won’t always be linear and that rough patches are inevitable. After Sunday’s blowout loss, he again set his jaw and vowed to keep grinding and setting a tone with his approach. “You’ve got two choices,” he said. “You can either say, ‘F it, I’m going to stop working. I’m going to stop playing.’ Or you can go the other route and say, ‘I’m going to keep working.’ I know me. No matter how many picks I throw, no matter how many (losses) we take, I’m going to keep going. That’s just the fact. And that’s just who I am. Never gonna stop.”
All NFL quarterbacks are scrutinized on how well they perform on third down and inside the red zone. Those can be telling indicators of a quarterback’s playmaking prowess and overall production. Through seven games and five starts, Fields hasn’t graded out favorably in those departments. He’s 7-for-12 passing for 42 yards and two touchdowns inside the red zone. But he’s 16-for-35 for 179 yards with no TDs and four interceptions on third down, posting a 21.9 passer rating. Fields has taken 10 sacks on third down for an average loss of 7.4 yards. In his five starts, the Bears are converting 25.9% of their third-down chances while scoring touchdowns on 63.6% of their red-zone trips. For the season, including Andy Dalton’s two starts, the Bears offense ranks last in third-down efficiency (31.3%) and 20th inside the red zone (58.2%). Fields was 2-for-7 for 16 yards with two interceptions on third down against the Buccaneers.
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