A Deep Dive Into Justin Fields’ Performance This Season

At the beginning of this season, Justin Fields, who was acquired by the Pittsburgh Steelers from the Chicago Bears in a trade deal this past spring, was unexpectedly thrust into the starting quarterback position. Russell Wilson was expected to be the starting quarterback, but the veteran injured his calf early on in preseason, with it flaring up just before the team’s Week One matchup. Fields played just four seasons before joining the Steelers and has gradually been finding his footing with his new teammates and coaches this season. Though the adjustment to both the new team and the starting position is understandably a tough one, Fields certainly has room for improvement, despite some successes with the Steel City team. 

To start his assessment thus far, it’s important to focus on some of Fields’ strong performances alongside the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive team. In the Week Three victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, Fields racked up a total of 245 yards and achieved a 78.1% pass completion rate, an impressive feat for the team newbie. Additionally, though Week Four resulted in a loss, Fields had perhaps his best performance of the season. During the matchup, during which he faced off the Indianapolis Colts alongside his team, Fields attained a total of 312 yards, with a total of just over nine yards per attempt. Though they lost, the quarterback threw a touchdown and was able to keep the point deficit to just three, missing the winning opportunity in the Steelers’ final possession by fumbling a snap. 

Though Fields has had moments during which he shows off some of his strong talents, the moments are rather fleeting, and the quarterback struggles with consistency. Specifically, Fields has either been able to start the game strong or end the game strong, never both. Additionally, it seemingly took him until Week Three to be able to truly gain his footing on the team. Namely, throughout the first three games, he only threw a total of two touchdowns and was sacked a total of six times. In fact, in the past two games alone, he was sacked a total of seven times, and during his most recent match, he only averaged just below five yards per attempt. Though Fields has incredible potential, within recent weeks he has especially been unable to stay out of his own way, fumbling key plays that could lead the team to victory. 

A cumulative assessment of Justin Fields reveals that he has great potential to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to have a dominant season. Though there are some tweaks to be made to his performances, such as sticking to plays and clarifying them to avoid unnecessary fumbles, Fields has proven that he has the fundamentals down. He is consistently able to put out good plays each game, and his improvement is seemingly dependent on his ability to simply put out more of these good plays per game. It appears that the Pittsburgh Steelers knew what they were doing when they traded for Justin Fields, who is likely to become one of the greats with just some minor adjustments to his technique.