Joe Burrow’s growth since 3-pick day at Soldier Field should give Bears hope

Quarterback Joe Burrow had thrown 199 passes without an interception — the longest active mark in the league and almost halfway to Aaron Rodgers’ record of 402 — when he dropped back on third-and-3 four minutes into the fourth quarter of the Bengals’ Week 2 game at Soldier Field.

He didn’t see Roquan Smith lurking underneath. The Bears inside linebacker jumped Burrow’s pass to Tyler Boyd, intercepted the pass and sprinted down the left sideline for a 53-yard pick six.

The Bears intercepted Burrow’s next pass, too — it was the first of second-year cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s career. The Bears, amazingly, picked Burrow’s next throw after that– inside linebacker Alec Ogletree blitzed and hit his arm as he threw, allowing the ball to flutter into the meaty arms of defensive tackle Angelo Blackson.

Burrow had thrown three interceptions on three-straight passes — to members of all three levels of the Bears’ defense, no less. He didn’t throw three picks in a single game the rest of his magical season, which will culminate in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the host Rams.

He said after the game that he tried to force too many throws, given how good his own defense was playing against the Bears. It would be trite to say Burrow learned a lesson that day, though. As hard as it might be to believe, given how out-of-his-mind Burrow has played since December, Burrow struggled earlier in the season, riding the rollercoaster of a second-year quarterback.

That he was able to tame the rollercoaster in Year 2 and become one of the best quarterbacks in football has to give the Bears optimism about their own quarterback, Justin Fields, as he enters his second season.

In his first nine games, Burrow beat the Jaguars by three and lost to the Jets by three. The former had the worst record in 2020, the latter the second-worst. He beat the rival Ravens by 24 — and lost to the Browns by 25. And, of course, he lost to the Bears, 20-17, on Sept. 19 at Soldier Field.

“Early in the year we weren’t super-consistent,” Burrow said Monday. “We had big wins and bad losses. As a young team sometimes you’re gonna go through that. We came out the other side and we’ve been playing our best football when it matters most.”

Coach Zac Taylor said the Bengals played “some really good defenses early in the season,” but that Burrow’s development had more to do with his recovery from knee surgery in December 2020 to repair the torn ACL and MCL in his left knee. In the name of safety, the Bengals held him out of preseason games, but for one pass attempt.

“He’s human,” Taylor said. “He was coming off major surgery there. First time he’s ever experienced it. So there’s a lot of unknowns there. I think he did a good job battling that through training camp. …

“As he got more comfortable closer to the [midseason] bye, we started to see, ‘OK, he looks like he’s back to 100 percent.'”

Burrow’s comfort level went beyond his knee, though. He grew more at ease with each start. In the last four games of the regular season, he had passer ratings of 125.6, 103.8, 143.2 and 148. Over three playoff games, it’s been 96.2.

Both Burrow and Fields started 10 games as rookies, each winning two games. Burrow’s rookie season in 2020 was ended prematurely by a knee injury; Fields’ rookie year was hampered by injuries to his ribs and ankle, a coronavirus diagnosis and Matt Nagy’s refusal to let him compete for the starting job.

Burrow left his home state’s powerhouse, Ohio State, to go to LSU, where he won a national title. Fields transferred from his home state’s powerhouse, Georgia, to play at Ohio State a year after Burrow left and lost the national title game.

The comparisons stop there. Burrow was the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 who threw for 2,688 yards, 13 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 89.8 passer rating as a rookie. Fields, the No. 11 pick, threw for 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 73.2 passer rating.

Burrow was the can’t-miss NFL prospect who didn’t. There are many more questions about Fields, and they’re only exacerbated by the Bears botching his playing time as a rookie.

Each start this year added to Burrow’s mental database, which had only 10 NFL games on it before this season.

“The reps are accumulating, so I’m feeling more and more comfortable out there against different defenses,” he said.

The Bears can only hope to say the same about Fields someday.

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