NEWSLETTER
For all the fun we’ve had watching Justin Fields grow this year, a constant bugaboo remains.
QB1 gets hit too dang much.
Actually, make it two constants. Because the other is that Fields gets hit late too dang much. And it has gone past the point of being an annoyance.
And, frankly, it sounds like Fields has had enough, via NBC Sports Chicago’s Josh Schrock:
“It’s just been too many times where I have slid and gotten hit too late and I don’t get any flags,” Fields said Tuesday at Halas Hall. “I think at this point in time … I’m going to be on the refs just looking for a call. When I think it’s a flag, I’m going to ask the ref. On Sunday, he said he didn’t think it was a foul. I’m just going to be begging for those calls and hope that I get one in the near future.”
As a point of reference, this is the play Fields is discussing where 6-4, 313-pound Ndamukong Suh comes late and delivers a forcible blow:
And to me, the worst part about this specific instance is that it was totally predictable. At least, anyone who has ever seen an NFL game in which Suh is a participant could’ve seen this coming.
I know I did:
Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus has made it a point (on multiple occasions) to let it be known that he has reached out to league offices. As if to say, hey … what’s the deal with these non-calls without going too hard on the refs. Maybe Eberflus needs to go on a Lou Piniella-type of red-faced tirade to get the league’s attention. Or perhaps he is more of a subtle type, like when Tony La Russa would finesse umpires back when he was managing the Cardinals. Whichever way he goes about it is fine by me. But it needs to happen. Bonus points if it is visible. Because public pressure is the type of thing that should help. Squeaky wheels get grease, after all. And rattling a few cages never hurt anyone.
Although, I’m still not sure if Eddie Jackson’s multiple pleas for better officiating have been helpful. But at least he has been trying.
In the end, it is frustrating every week to see this quarterback dinged up. Especially when I watch similar hits get calls in other games. And it is particularly maddening when lesser hits in other games I watch get calls. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those the refs are out to get our guy type of guy. But I’ll say that I understand where those people are coming from whenever I compare the calls Fields doesn’t get to the ones seemingly every other quarterback around the league *DOES* get.
