3 moments that showed Justin Fields’ elite potential on ‘Monday Night Football’

We finally got to see Fields’ magic.

Justin Fields’ potential was always there, but we’d only caught it in fleeting glimpses surrounded by mediocrity and disappointment. That changed on Monday Night Football.

For four quarters we saw why Fields could become an elite quarterback capable of taking over a game by himself with his arm and his legs. Despite having no notable receivers, and an offensive line that is legendarily bad (no line has allowed this much pressure since David Carr’s 2002 rookie season), Fields still managed to be the biggest difference maker in the Bears’ 33-14 win over the Patriots. For four quarters he frustrated and befuddled the Patriots’ defense in ways that simply don’t appear in the box score, with Belichick and Co. simply not having an answer for how to deal with him.

Even when the Patriots got huge pressure, and perfectly covered receivers — Fields did this.

There is nowhere to throw on this play. Equanimeous St. Brown has a cornerback in his pocket, and isn’t a target, Dante Pettis doesn’t get any separation from his man on the left, and Cole Kmet is running right into double coverage from the linebackers. On top of all this the offensive line completely crumbles. Three pass rushers get leverage, collapsing the pocket almost immediately. Normally this kind of play results in a throwaway, but instead Fields manages to tuck the ball, dance out of the messy pocket, juke the only defender who could make a play on him, and still have the smarts to just duck out of bounds for a tidy first down. This is the kind of play you see from Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen.

As impressive as that was, somehow this play was even better.

This is just one of those plays you salivate over if you like seeing players make small adjustments instinctually and manage to make magic. Both offensive tackles are unless on this play, with the edge rushers getting free release on Fields. At this point you normally see one of two things happen:

A pocket passer will curl up and take the sack
A mobile QB will take off running, and either pick up big yards, or lose a boatload

Fields invents a third. He knows he’s going to get absolutely lit up, but stands in the pocket and changes his posture. By getting low it braces better for the hit, and modifies his throwing level. Fields then releases the pass side arm, around Matthew Judon, and this combination of low body level and side arm release ensures the rushers won’t bat the ball down as their instincts are to raise their arms during the rush.

This was a designed play looking at how the offensive linemen are aiming to get downfield to block for Khalil Herbert, but it’s a play that typically collapses to blitz pressure. Fields is able to alter the metric with his toughness and instincts on this, and it results in an easy touchdown — as the Patriots have sold out everything to pressure the quarterback.

This play isn’t as flashy, but damn it shows the potential too.

Left guard Michael Schofield III gives us one of the funniest things I’ve seen this season. Linebacker Mac Wilson runs right past him, and Schofield is so confused on who he’s supposed to block went that he just stands up and looks around for a bit, before deciding to help chip the nose tackle while Fields is running for his life.

Still, he manages to get outside of the pocket, recognize more pressure is coming from a DB who can catch him if he scrambles — so he squares up and delivers a perfect pass to Cole Kmet.

The Bears are still an offensive mess but Fields is showing he’s legit

For the first time this season Chicago finally allowed Justin Fields to move out of the pocket and throw outside from outside the hashes on designed plays. This is a recipe for immediate success now, while they build the build to the future.

The Bears need to focus every ounce of their energy into fixing that garbage pile of an offensive line, then try to get at least one legitimate receiver. If Chicago can get Fields to the point where he doesn’t have to run for his life in order to make plays we could be on the verge of seeing him break out and become something special.