Hungry for a win after their Week 2 losses, the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears will both look to their second-year quarterbacks, Davis Mills and Justin Fields, to help them bounce back Sunday.
Last week at Denver, Davis Mills completed 19-of-38 passes for just 177 passing yards for no touchdowns. Fields threw just 11 passes in the Bears Week 2 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Bears former first-round pick tied for the fewest pass attempts in the game as a starter, completing 7-of-11 and rushing for a touchdown.
This year, both quarterbacks are working with new offensive coordinators, Texans OC Pep Hamilton and Bears OC Luke Getsy, working to help increase production in the passing game. Hamilton says the key is to continue drives by keeping third downs manageable and avoiding obvious passing-down situations.
"We're just trying to do everything we can to stay out of obvious passing situations because you look across the league, that's the biggest challenge for quarterbacks," Hamilton said. "You've got young quarterbacks, guys like Davis who have only 418 attempts as a pro compared to guys that have been in the league for a long time. Tom Brady has over 10,000 attempts but you go back and you look at the games and you see there's incomplete passes, there's interceptions, there's plays that aren't made and why is that? In obvious passing situations, it's a challenge for any quarterback."
For opposing defenses, the strength of each quarterback's game differentiates them. Mills, who has started 13 career games, has only thrown two interceptions since Week 14 of the 2021 season. His 11-2 passing TD-INT ratio in that span ranks fifth in the NFL (min. 150 pass attempts). Mills is just one of two quarterbacks (Patrick Mahomes) who has not thrown an interception through two starts this season.
Fields has shown that his super power is his ability to make plays with his legs. Through his 12 career starts, the former No. 11 overall draft pick ranks fifth in the NFL among QBs with 468 rushing yards since 2021.
"He's an athlete," Texans DL Jonathan Greenard said. "That's what you get drafted early for guys like that. He's a huge talent, good size, good speed. He's a young quarterback who's still growing in this league and making a lot of plays. We understand that from an athletic standpoint, what he can do with us if we're not honing in on our technique and staying within the defensive scheme. We're going to do our best to make him feel uncomfortable back there and do our same objective every week as a D-line, continue to be disruptive."
| Career as Starter | Mills | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| Comp Pct | 66.6 | 58.7 |
| Pass + Rush YPG | 228.0 | 202.1 |
| Pass TD-INT | 17-9 | 9-11 |
| Passer Rating | 89.9 | 76.8 |
Mills and Fields will face each other on Sunday when the Texans head to Chicago in Week 3. Kickoff for the Texans-Bears game is set for noon CT on CBS and SportsRadio 610.
