Third-year quarterback Justin Fields raised eyebrows at the Chicago Bears training facility this week when he suggested that the coaching staff was at least partly responsible for his "robotic" play.
Matt Eberflus is entering his second season as the Bears head coach and many hoped to see Fields make strides in 2023. Instead, Fields has seemingly regressed.
"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 at a press conference before Wednesday's practice.
On Thursday, Bears general manager Ryan Poles decided to hold his own press conference to make it clear that the organization does not view the star quarterback as the type of player who places blame on others.
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"No one in our entire building, none of our coaches see Justin as a finger-pointer," Poles said. "The kid has always taken ownership of anything that has happened on the field. He takes it head-on. He grinds. He works [with all] to find solutions."
Poles added that there is no sense of panic in the building.
"To make it really, really clear, I know the outside noise, but no one in our building is panicking. No one is flinching at any situations, not our owner, not our president, our head coach, not myself, none of our players. Everyone is focusing on solving the issues that we have so that we can be a better football team."
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The Bears are searching for their first win of the season after dropping their first two games against the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Chicago faces a tough challenge in Week 3 as the team travels to Kansas City for a matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes offered some advice to Fields during his press conference on Wednesday.
"Trust your talent. Trust your instincts," Mahomes said prior to Fields' comments about the Bears coaching. "He’s here for a reason. He’s made a lot of big plays happen in the NFL and college, wherever he’s been."
"Just trusting in your instincts and then go out there [and] be the player you’ve always been – just not against us, hopefully," Mahomes added with a laugh.
Fields eventually walked back his comments, arguing that his remarks were taken out of context.
"I'm not blaming anything on the coaches. I'm never going to blame anything on the coaches," he said. "I'm never going to blame anything on my teammates. Whatever happens in a game, I will take all the blame. I don't care. If it's a dropped pass, it should have been a pass, put it on me."
"Whenever you hear anything come out of my mouth to where I would blame it on somebody else in this organization, my teammates, never will you hear that. I just want to clear that up. Just know I need to play better. That's it, point-blank. That's what it should have been in the first place."
Meanwhile, Poles noted that Fields had to largely carry the Bears' offense in 2022.
The Bears roster had several weak spots last season, but Poles argued that the front office had worked to fill some of those deficiencies to put more talent around the quarterback.
Now that Fields has more to work with, he has to figure out when to rely on others and when he should take over, according to Poles.
"That is sometimes a gray place to live in," Poles said. "That takes time and time on task for him to take that next step. And everyone is on board helping him get into that place to be successful."
