Analyst Puts Justin Fields in ‘Game Loser Category’

Many analysts have expressed support of Justin Fields winning the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback competition over Russell Wilson, or at the very least supplanting him at some point, but former NFL linebacker and current FS1 analyst Emmanuel Acho begs to differ.

Acho thinks Wilson is miles ahead of Fields as a quarterback.

“Though Russ didn’t carry his Super Bowl teams, and Justin Fields obviously didn’t carry his Bears teams, Russ has never had to be carried by a team,” Acho said on FS1’s Speak. “Justin Fields, he’s been dead weight, Russ has never in Seattle been dead weight. Remember those Seahawks teams were 7-9 before he got there. He got there and they instantly won 11, then instantly won 13 and went to the Super Bowl.

“There are three categories: Game changers, game managers, and game losers. Russell Wilson might not be a game changer, but he’s never been a game loser. Put him in the game manager category. Someone could very convincingly make a case for Justin Fields to be in the game loser category,” Acho said.

Wilson had a great supporting cast when he was in Seattle, though. A great running game and the Legion of Boom on defense. That factor coupled with his dreadful two-year tenure in Denver has him as a borderline Hall of Famer. What he does in Pittsburgh could solidify his case either way. Denver could have been an anomaly.

Acho has a point with Fields not coming up big late in games. He only has two fourth-quarter comebacks and three-game winning drives in 40 career games. However, Fields had no stability on the coaching front and barely any weapons to work with in Chicago.

He had two head coaches and three different offensive coordinators in his three years in the Windy City. That’s an incredibly tough environment for a young quarterback to develop and grow in.

Jason Goff of NBC Sports Chicago thinks Fields wasn’t perfect in the situation, but he was dealt an extremely bad hand.

“He was part of the problem. I think Justin Fields got caught up in the worst wasteland you can have to develop a quarterback,” Goff said on Bomani Jones’ podcast The Right Time with Bomani Jones. “Matt Nagy’s on his way out, he wants to play Andy Dalton. He throws him in his first game and says, ‘Here play football.’ And then he gets sacked nine times by Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney and that Cleveland Browns defense. That’s his introduction to it.

“Second year, (general manager) Ryan Poles comes in, ‘Hey, I got to tear this down, I want to build a different way.’ The youngest roster by far in the league. He’s throwing to special teamers. But also, he’s doing things that I didn’t expect him to do, like take off and run as often as he did. Is it all on Justin Fields? A sizeable portion of it is. But, I’m not one of these people that think that this wasn’t one of the worst situations you could drop quarterback in.”