Bears GM Ryan Poles backs Justin Fields, ‘encouraged’ by progress

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles expressed support for quarterback Justin Fields during an impromptu news conference inside Gillette Stadium hours before his team took on the New England Patriots on “Monday Night Football.”

“I know Justin has been a big topic and his development,” Poles said. “And we’re encouraged with the progress that is there. It’s not on the statistics and on the paper all the time, but he is getting better in a lot of different areas. I think as a whole, we’ve got to continue to play better around him as well to allow him to keep playing well and get his confidence going and execute at a high level.”

Fields ranks toward the bottom of the NFL in most statistical categories through his first six games of the season. The second-year quarterback is 32nd in completion percentage (54.8%), off-target percentage (24.4%), sack percentage (13.5%) and pressure percentage (46.2%). He also has the second-worst interception percentage (4.3%) and completion percentage over expectation (-10.7%), according to Next Gen Stats.

Poles said he will be looking at “a few different things” in his evaluation of Fields over the Bears’ next 11 games.

“How he’s being used? Are we putting him in the position where he can be successful? And then the execution and the details of what he’s being asked to do and really speeding up to the game and making decisions quicker,” Poles said. “But again, the beautiful thing about football, it’s reliant on everybody else. As a whole, we have to improve, and I think we’ll see that everyone stats to get better and then we’ll start to ascend.”

In Chicago’s most recent game against the Washington Commanders, a 12-7 loss on Oct. 13, Fields was pressured 18 times, a new career high. Poles expressed concern over the quarterback being hit as often as he has been this season but did not solely pin blame on the offensive line, noting that there is “room for improvement” for Fields in getting rid of the ball…