For rookie quarterback Justin Fields, Sunday was an afternoon to forget.
The young passer looked very much like a rookie in a blowout loss to the defending Super Bowl Champions, as the Bears lost to the Tampa Buccaneers by a final score of 38-3. In the loss, Fields completed 22 of 32 passes for 184 yards and three interceptions, and he also fumbled the football three times, losing two of those to the Buccaneers.
By the end, it looked like the young quarterback simply wanted to get away:
Justin Fields’s body language is really rough right now. He looks totally beaten down
— Matthew Coller (@MatthewColler) October 24, 2021
After a collegiate career that saw Fields lead Ohio State to back-to-back playoff appearances, including a berth in the National Championship Game a season ago, the young quarterback is getting a taste of NFL adversity.
And the flavoring is anything but sweet:
It took 7 weeks for the Bears to ruin Justin Fields entire career. pic.twitter.com/keJpBYMdlV
— Chicago Bears NYC (@BearDownNYC) October 24, 2021
But a simple truth about playing quarterback, or frankly playing sports in general, is this: Adversity is part of the game. Take this from Joe Montana in his book “Joe Montana’s Art and Magic of Quarterbacking:”
There’s one thing I can guarantee any young quarterback: You will face adversity. For every “magic moment” I’ve had, I’ve been picked off, benched, thrown down, or knocked cold. Every athlete has doubts and low points.
But the position requires you to handle that adversity, through inner strength:
If you don’t enjoy football, why put yourself through the inevitable diversity? With football, you have to want to be a quarterback. You can’t be afraid to fail. You can’t worry about being in a position with a lot of pressure and needing to be perfect all the time. You must have a certain strength to be able to rebound from an incompletion or interception, because there will be times when a lineman will miss a block, a receiver will miss a pass or a route, or a back might miss a hole–people watching the game might not realize this. The quarterback is the one who gets the blame, or the credit, for the ultimate execution.
The task in front of Fields right now is rebounding. Not just from an incompletion or interception, but from a loss that has some wondering about his future as a quarterback in the NFL. We can start with the lows, and then look at how those can be turned into highs.
