Arkush: Bears need to put blame where it really belongs
At some point someone has to ask the question, is anybody ever going to blame Justin Fields for anything that is wrong with Justin Fields?
This particular question has nothing to do with the future of his head coach Matt Nagy even though no one has taken more bullets for his rookie QB than Nagy.
Anyone who watched the Bears' 17-9 loss to the Vikings on Monday knows fairly or not - but probably more than fairly - the time for change has come regardless of how we got here.
The team's embarrassing performance has to land at the feet of the head coach. It's just a fact of life in the profession he's chosen.
But week after week now, dating all the way back to Field's first start in Cleveland, Nagy has stood center stage and refused to find fault with Fields in any way and bent over backward in search of signs of growth and improvement while shouldering the blame for his historic lack of production by any rookie quarterback standards.
When fans and media alike have needed a momentary breather from the incessant demonizing and pounding of Nagy, they've instantly turned their wrath on the offensive line, receivers and NFL officials.
Everybody is to blame for the young man's lack of development to date but Fields?
Stop for just a minute and ask yourself does it really seem possible that can be right or true?
Clearly Nagy has chosen the role of nothing but positive reinforcement and a refusal to criticize his pupil in public.
In his news conference Tuesday, Nagy was asked what went wrong on a third-down throw to David Montgomery that Fields missed and blamed in his postgame news conference on Montgomery not running the route as fast as he expected.
"I thought that they were both fine, really," Nagy said. "David ran his route with the right steps. His depth was right. His steps were right. Justin made the right decision going there. His footwork was good.
"We just didn't connect on it. Sometimes that's how it goes."
Not just sometimes but too often it's gone that way because Fields just didn't make a good throw.
What this absolutely is not intended to be is an indictment of Fields.
He is suffering what almost every rookie that's ever started at quarterback in the NFL has gone through, and it isn't his fault everyone wants to bend over backward to protect him.
He is an outstanding athlete with rare arm talent; mature well beyond his years, bright, well spoken and basically in possession of everything you look for to develop a franchise quarterback.
I've seen enough to continue to believe he has a great chance of getting there.
But I've also seen enough over all the years I've covered this game to remember the dozens upon dozens of similar prospects that have come along and never gotten there.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of those young men fail, and if the Bears are going to avoid letting Fields become another statistic it is crucial they - whoever they may be, Nagy and Ryan Pace or their successors if their time is up - stop treating him like rare china, analyze him for where he's at and come up with a new plan to take him in the right direction.
Listen to other coaches and successful quarterbacks analyzing him whether it is TV commentators or in the numerous print and online reports available everywhere outside of Chicago.
He is still holding the ball far too long, struggling more often than not to identify the right options quickly enough if at all, his accuracy is as dependable as the Chicago weather and Monday night he was as uncomfortable and confused both in the pocket, and even more so when he escaped it, as any QB we've seen in some time.
Most want to blame Fields' struggles on Nagy's offense when the reality is he'd struggle in any offense with where he's at right now, and the guy it's most unfair to is Fields.
It's time to stop obsessing over what's wrong with Nagy's offense and focus on what's wrong with Fields if he's gong to be who Bears fans hope he can be.
• Twitter: @Hub_Arkush