What’s going wrong for the Bears in 2023?

Coming into the new season, many expected Justin Fields to make a Jalen Hurts-type leap to become the dual-threat QB everyone feared to play against. Chicago were aggressive in free agency, had made smart moves and a treasure chest of picks to help the team improve even further in the future. Everything was set for a much better 2023.

Having progressed well despite his team still struggling last year, all eyes were on Fields to enter the elite tier of quarterbacks in the league. But following two opening defeats to the season, and Fields looking to have regressed rather than made an improvement, many questions are being raised, not just about the player, but how the team is set up more generally.

Entering Week Three, Fields is a quarterback looking to get back on track. The former first-round selection told reporters on Wednesday that he felt like he was “kind of robotic” in the defeat to the Buccaneers and not playing like himself. When asked why, Fields responded, “you know, could be coaching, I think. At the end of the day, 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. 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.”

Despite back-tracking on the comment, the statement felt like a revelation, and a sign that all is not right in the Bears setup. That’s particularly evident given that defensive coordinator Alan Williams has since resigned from the team. While that issue isn’t, as we know at the moment, relevant or related to the Fields comments, such are the extremity of the rumours, it could mean we can expect more changes to come soon if things don’t improve.

Back to the press conference and Fields went on to say that during the offseason, coaches wanted him to work on staying in the pocket, and that point of emphasis may have cost him when he was strip-sacked on a third down play before halftime against the Buccaneers.

Of course, we know Fields wanted to improve his passing going into the new year, having proved himself as one of the most electrifying rushing weapons in the league. He wants to be the first Bears QB to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, so naturally he’s going to need to adapt, similar to how Mitch Trubisky’s running numbers dipped when he was told to show what he could do in the pocket in the 2019 season.

We all know how that worked out, and Fields obviously doesn’t want to go the same way. But it’s incredibly rare and surprising to hear a player, who evidently hasn’t been at his best, make such comments about his superiors, especially given how much effort the team has made in building around and putting the pieces in place to help the former Ohio State QB succeed as an NFL passer.

Teams would want situations like this to be kept in house, and out of the public eye for as long as possible. But Fields has, mistakenly or not, chosen to out the team, which could be a real cause for concern in the dressing room.

Just two weeks into the season, the signs really aren’t good for Chicago, especially with the guy supposed to be the franchise quarterback seemingly throwing the coaching he’s receiving under the bus. If things don’t improve o