Bears QB Justin Fields remains calm, patient amid early-season struggles

Justin Fields is trying to take a calm, clinical approach in dealing with the “trash” game he played against the Texans. He’s choosing a steadier path than last week, when he rearranged his schedule to kick-start himself.

It was challenging to maintain that steadiness Sunday night while scrutinizing the film of arguably the worst performance of his career. Fields completed only 8 of 17 passes for 106 yards with two interceptions for a 27.7 passer rating. As exasperating as it was for everyone else to watch Fields torpedoing the offense, it was even worse for Fields to see clip after clip.

“It was frustrating, for sure,” he said of his evening. “But gotta learn from the mistakes.”

His reaction to the tape?

“Just gotta play better,” he said.

He added, “All I really know — my response to that is to get back to work and keep working.”

In a shift from the last week or so, including Sunday when he caught himself before using profanity to describe his play, Fields was brief and flat Wednesday as he tried to move on from his latest debacle and look toward an opportunity to straighten himself out Sunday at the Giants. He tried to be patient, viewing his struggles as “part of the process — that’s all it is.”

No visible anger. No setting his alarm for 4 a.m. to do extra work.

And that’s probably for the best.

After three shaky games to start the season, Fields seems to need a reset more than anything. He needs to simplify the game. He needs to trust his talent.

The Bears are limited at wide receiver and unreliable in pass protection, which certainly makes his job harder, but there have been instances where he has looked indecisive. Opportunities were there — and those are precious in this offense — and Fields was late to identify them or inaccurate on his pass.

The Bears spent the offseason revamping his footwork, saying it was crucial for his development, but coach Matt Eberflus acknowledged it has been inconsistent. And on his first-quarter interception against the Texans, Fields said the ball slipped as he threw it, causing a wobble that took it off target.

Those issues have been evident throughout the season. Fields ranks last in passes (45), yards (297) and passer rating (50.0) and has thrown interceptions more frequently than any other player (8.9% of his throws). But the problems seemed to reach a boiling point, for him included, against Houston.

“I just played like trash,” he said. “I played terrible. Really just gotta be better.”

It seems like what he needs more than anything is simply a good game, and Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy should play to his strengths. He’s a great runner. He throws an impressive deep ball. Stick to what Fields does best, let him get comfortable and feel like he has some footing to help his confidence.

The upside for Fields is that his poor play hasn’t cost his team much to this point because the defense has been very good. The mood at Halas Hall surely would be tense if the Bears were winless because of him.

Safety Eddie Jackson bailed him out by intercepting the Texans in the end zone after Fields had thrown a pick, and linebacker Roquan Smith helped the Bears avoid overtime with an interception that set up the game-winning field goal. At 2-1, the Bears’ lone loss was to the Packers, and few thought they could pull off that upset anyway.

But that won’t last. Teams can’t win regularly with this type of quarterback play.