One passing stat may be damning enough to justify keeping Justin Fields on the bench for the rest of 2023

Amongst the debate between Tyson Bagent and Justin Fields about who is the better quarterback or who is best suited to be the starter for the rest of the 2023 crops up a damning statistic.

Both Justin Fields and Tyson Bagent have both played in five games this year.  Fields has attempted 162 passes, while Tyson Bagent has attempted 143 passes.

The big difference between the two QBs is a damning indictment of Justin Fields’ ability to get the ball out quickly and the pressure it puts on the offensive line and the rest of the offense.

Justin Fields has been sacked 24 times in 2023, while Tyson Bagent has been sacked only five times on the season.  That’s not a typo, Bagent has a little more than 1/5 of the total of sacks allowed of Justin Fields.  The offensive line didn’t get monumentally better with Bagent under center.  Bagent just gets the ball out and avoids sacks in a way Justin Fields never has.

Holding onto the ball too long and taking too many sacks has long been a problem for Justin Fields and the 24 sacks allowed in 162 passing attempts proves just how bad it is with Justin Fields under center.

Possibly even more damning has been the fact that Tyson Bagent has been operating from under center more often than Justin Fields has been on the season.  So Bagent should be at even more of a disadvantage given the timing of dropping back from under center.

Bagent’s biggest problem right now is turnovers as he had a four-turnover game against the Saints last week.  But as he gets more in game seasoning under his belt, Bagent will begin to learn what he can and can’t do in the NFL.  Rookie QBs tend to have high INT rates because they’re learning on the job.  Fields has been on the low end of INT percentage but he’s never been very aggressive with his passes either.

Regardless of whether or not the Bears to decide to keep Tyson Bagent starting this year and give him the opportunity to compete for the starting job next year against Fields the evidence is clear.  That evidence is that the Bears should be moving off of Fields as the starter because he still takes too many sacks to justify remaining the QB of the future.