Bear Necessities: Lucas Patrick says the offensive line must be better for Justin Fields

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There’s a lot of blame to go around when it comes to the Bears’ offensive struggles. The offensive line has been a big part of it, where they’ve struggled to keep quarterback Justin Fields upright.

Through six games, Fields has been sacked a league-most 23 times, and, according to ESPN, Fields has been pressured on 46 percent of his drop backs.

Lucas Patrick knows the offensive line needs to be better, specifically for Fields “because he deserves it.” In fact, Patrick hasn’t wavered in his belief that Fields can become a star in this league.

“All I know is up front, we have to do the best we can do and keep him clean because as we’ve seen multiple times, we keep him clean or we give him a rush lane to sneak out,” Patrick said, via ChicagoBears.com. “We need to live up to the standard that we have in our room and really help him become the elite player that he is. You can’t change my mind that that guy’s not a future stud in this league, like, the way he throws it, the way he’s consistent, the way he runs, just his positive personality, and like, he’s a great dude to have in the locker room and doesn’t really get down amongst us.”

The offensive line’s best game in pass protection was in a Week 5 loss to the Vikings. Fields had a mostly clean pocket and looked comfortable, confident and poised in his best game of the season. If the Bears offensive line can give him a little more time, we’ll get a look at what Fields is truly capable of.