Justin Fields calls out officials for failure to protect the QB on late hits

Bears QB Justin Fields is fed up with officials failing to call obvious hits on him that other quarterbacks are given protection for. 

Justin Fields doesn’t make excuses, and when you play in a city like Chicago, the last thing you want to do is be labeled as an “excuse-maker.”

Having said that, when you file a complaint, and there is sufficient evidence to back up your claim, more people will naturally take your side. In this case, it’s with NFL officiating and their failures to protect the quarterback.

In a press conference, Fields called out the men in black and white for their lack of protection of quarterbacks, referencing a clear cheap shot he took last Sunday against Philadelphia, courtesy of Ndamukong Suh.

“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.”

Fields is 100% correct. There is an issue going on here, and it’s not the first time this happened. It happened several times when Fields was a rookie and this year alone during the Bears game against Atlanta. Teammate Jaquan Brisker expressed concern, but it appears it has fallen on deaf ears.

Bears: Justin Fields is fed up with officiating treating him differently

We saw this kind of issue with Cam Newton; eventually, his body took too much, and ultimately, his career ended unceremoniously. Newton was not given the same benefit of the doubt as others and couldn’t complain about it without certain blowback coming his way. It looks like Fields is feeling that way.

The good thing about Fields is that he’s kept his mouth shut for much of the time, and now, he’s got every right to voice his concern. But it’s highly unlikely officials or the NFL will do anything. If they don’t do it before, what will it take to do it now?

Fields says he’s going to do what it takes to make sure officials give him the call, but again, they’ll just ignore it and continue to do things their way. Hopefully, Chicago gets some studs on the offensive line to make sure that if Fields gets hit late at any point, they give the defender a reason never to do it again.