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Justin Fields has become one of the most electric players in the National Football League and Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Darius Slay labeled him as a “human highlight reel.” Justin Fields makes plays that become segments on TV shows like Undisputed or First Take and his legs make him the scariest player on the field at all times.
Over the course of the season, the narrative hasn’t changed so drastically on one player as it has for Justin Fields. He was arguably the laughing stock of the NFL after only attempting 45 passes through his first three games and that gave many grandparents 1945 flashbacks when Sid Luckman was around.
Cooper Kupp actually had more receiving yards than the Bears entire receiving core and Justin Fields' passing yard’s betting prop was set around 130 yards. It was horrid being a Bears fan during that time.
Fields might be the true social media quarterback that Emmanuel Acho is looking for and week after week, we see Fields break the internet with a special once in a generation type play that only few in the league at his position could pull off.
The biggest question is should Justin Fields make his way to the Pro Bowl? He makes a great argument for it and his rushing numbers have put him in the elite category in regards to being a dual-threat quarterback.
Fields has become the third quarterback in the history of the NFL to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season and joins Michael Vick, and Lamar Jackson, who have accomplished the feature twice. Fields is seventh in the NFL for rushing yards amongst all players.
Fields needs only 207 more rushing yards in three games to surpass Lamar Jackson’s single season record of 1,206 yards. He has already broken the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a regular season game with 173 yards and is the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for three 50-yard plus touchdowns in their career. He did that over the course of a four-week span..
In order to make the Pro Bowl as a quarterback, you have to be considered one of the top three in your conference and his numbers aren’t that far off from some of the top signal-callers in the conference.
He has 23 total touchdowns which is tied for 9th in the NFL and trails only Jalen Hurts (35), Geno Smith (27), and Kirk Cousins (26) in the NFC. Fields’ total yardage is up to 3,000 on the season, which ranks middle of the pack in the league.
His passing yards are a major downside to his case but when you consider other factors, it’s not as bad as it seems. He averages 7.5 yards per attempt which comes in tied for 10th in the league. If you match his attempts up with someone like Jalen Hurts, his passing yards would be sitting close to 3,200.
Justin Fields has done all of this with a bottom five supporting cast, and his first year in a new system. He doesn’t have AJ Brown, Justin Jefferson, DK Metcalf, or Tyler Lockett by his side compared to others. Just this past Sunday he threw for two touchdowns against the league's number one passing defense with no turnovers.
He is the first quarterback to throw for multiple touchdowns without an interception against the Eagles all season long and he’s accomplished this all while throwing the ball to unknown receivers such as Nsimba Webster, Dante Pettis, and Byron Pringle. His 247 total yards of offense by a quarterback comes in as the second most allowed by Philadelphia this season, trailing only Kyler Murray’s 292 total yards.
The league isn’t handing Pro Bowls selections out for a one game performance like Fields’ game against the Eagles, but since week five, this has been a very common theme for Fields.
In only one game has Fields not thrown for a touchdown pass since that week five mark and he has accounted for 20 of his 23 touchdowns. That’s an average of 2.2 touchdowns per game.
His impact on the history books and his growth to completely turn the Chicago Bears offense around in the matter of one season, arguably should get him into the Pro Bowl. He has turned Chicago into the scariest run threat in the league, one that teams should not overlook.
Fields might not make the Pro Bowl because the Chicago Bears have only three wins, which puts them as the second worst team in football. Wins help your Pro Bowl odds significantly and fans remember when Mitch Trubisky headed to the Pro Bowl in 2018 after a12-4 season.
Deshaun Watson (2020) and Derek Carr (2017 replacement) were the only two quarterbacks in the last five years to get sent to the Pro Bowl with a sub .500 record.
Does Chicago’s lack of success this season fall on him? No. Wins are not quarterback stat, but instead, it’s more of how the rest of the league perceives you. For example, the national media has spent all of 2022 debating if Tua Tagovailoa is better than Justin Herbert because Herbert hasn’t won a damn thing up to this point in his career.
That doesn’t mean Fields is better as of yet than Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott and others, but when you sit here and look at his support system, and what he’s had to deal with, it’s impressive that his name is being tossed around in the conversation.
While his impressive numbers are amongst some of the all time dual-threat greats, that doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the Pro Bowl. In fact, the odds are against him here.
For starters, just because you rush for 1,000 yards as a quarterback, doesn’t mean you are guaranteed a Pro Bowl selection. Lamar has done it twice and only got the nod once. In the one time Michael Vick rushed for over 1,000 yards in a regular season, he didn’t get the nod either.
His passing numbers will ultimately hold him back as well with only 15 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions doesn’t scream “Pro Bowl.” It’s wrong to take a lot of his passing numbers into account, especially when you see what he’s done with his legs, but this is a passing league and voters will see that.
To the fans of Chicago, Fields being a Pro Bowl selection would be a nice ending to a fun, but rough 2022-23 season. If he doesn’t get selected, it won’t bother the fanbase too much when many more accolades are coming in the future.
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