Bears quarterback Justin Fields wants to get back to being Justin Fields.
Fields struggled in a Week Two loss to the Buccaneers as he went 16-of-29 for 211 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions through the air while running just four times for three yards. That’s the lowest rushing yards he’s had in a game since his rookie season and Fields said on Wednesday that he feels he played “robotic” against Tampa while adding why he thinks that is the case.
“You know, could be coaching I think . . . they are doing their job when they are giving me what to look at, but at the end of the day, I can’t be thinking about that when the game comes,” Fields said. “I prepare myself throughout the week and then when the game comes, it’s time to play free at that point. Thinking less and playing more.”
Head coach Matt Eberflus said earlier that he wants Fields to “let it flow.” When the Bears play in Kansas City this weekend, Fields’ goals include “thinking less and going out there and playing off instincts.”
“My goal this week is to say, ‘F it — just play football,’” Fields said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s when I play my best, when I’m out there being free. I’m going to go out there and be me.”
One of the big questions about the Bears heading into this season was whether Fields would solidify himself as the team’s long-term answer at quarterback. The first two weeks of the season have not provided a positive answer to that question and Fields will have to find a better approach sometime soon in order to remain in the plans beyond this season.
