The 2023 season did not get off to the kind of start that the Chicago Bears were hoping for. Week 1 presented them an opportunity to set the tone early against their NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers. Instead, they did the opposite, putting up a dud.
The Bears lost the game 38-20 as they were thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game by the Packers. Matt LaFleur ran his record to 9-0 against Chicago in his head coaching career, as they haven’t presented many challenges to Green Bay in four seasons.
That is something Justin Fields was hoping to change this season. Alas, he will have to wait until Week 18, the regular season finale, to get off the schneid against the Packers. Until then, the best he can do is offer an apology to the Bears and their fans for his performance in Week 1.
“It sucks,” Fields said in the postgame. “Nobody is in good spirits. This one hurts, I’m not going to lie to you. It definitely sucks, but in the grand scheme of things, you have to look at the big picture. It’s Week 1, we have 16 games to go in the regular season, so we have a lot of room to improve, a lot of room to grow, and I think that’s what we’re going to do as long as we keep that positive attitude and keep our mentality, just keep going and keep pushing for greatness each and every day. We’ll be fine, but it definitely hurts. Not only because it is the first game of the season and it’s a loss, but it’s a loss to them.
“Just want to say sorry to my teammates, all the fans that were rooting for us,” Fields said, “but we’ll bounce back. We’ll be good.”
Fields had his moments making plays with his legs, but he struggled again when facing pressure. Of course, that isn’t all his fault, as the offensive line was unable to slow down a dynamic Packers pass rush that pressured Fields on more than half of his dropbacks.
But his backbreaking interception in the fourth quarter to Quay Walker, which was returned 37 yards for a touchdown, iced the game away for the Packers. He also had a fumble in the third quarter after the Packers built a ton of momentum that the defense was able to step up and get his back for, forcing a three-and-out.
Overall, however, it was more of the same for the Bears. The last two seasons have been filled with shortcomings with Fields at quarterback, as he is now 5-21 as a starter. The supporting cast around him certainly needs to up their level of play, but at some point, if he is to be the franchise quarterback that the Bears believe him to be, he needs to elevate the level of his teammates around him.
