The difference a coach makes: Crazy stat is proof Justin Fields is QB1 in Pittsburgh

While he was with the Chicago Bears, just about everybody was blaming Justin Fields for their failures. It was never depicted as the fault of the coaching staff, the offensive line or anybody else. It was always placed on Fields, with many calling him a bust just a few short years into his professional career.

Now the Bears have freed Fields from the shackles in Chicago, sending him over to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fields is now working under legendary coach Mike Tomlin and offensive guru Arthur Smith. And believe it or not, Fields is performing a lot better in Pittsburgh than he did in Chicago.

Coaching matters!

Justin Fields has fixed his biggest flaw in the best way possible

Through three games, Fields and the Steelers are 3-0 with victories over the Broncos, Falcons and Chargers. Fields has been the QB1 in Pittsburgh ever since Russell Wilson, who was named the starter, went down with an injury. But given his winning ways, it seems as though Fields is the starter of the future unless something drastic changes.

For most of his career, Fields was critiqued for his inability to throw over the middle of the field, specifically in the intermediate area. But that's a fair problem to have. Across the entire football field, that's the toughest place to throw. Short areas just have to deal with linebackers or cornerbacks. Deep areas are typically single coverage too. The sidelines allow you to work with out-of-bounds to prevent turnovers. The middle of the field is where the most bodies are.

Even in Week 1, against the Atlanta Falcons, Fields avoided the middle of the field. OC Arthur Smith credited this fact to the presence of Jessie Bates at safety rather than him not trusting Fields to make the throws.

Through three weeks, Fields has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league, per EPA, at throwing in the intermediate part of the field.

He has thrown 28 passes in the intermediate area, and he's been worth 0.768 EPA, good for third most in the league. Fields trails just Josh Allen and Derek Carr, both of which have been two of the most impressive and valuable signal callers in the league.

EPA is defined as "Expected points in the NFL is the amount of points a team is expected to score on the current drive. Expected points added or EPA in football measures how a team’s expected points (EP) changes on an individual play."

Basically the higher the number, the better. Fields' EPA on intermediate passes is better than every signal caller in the league besides Allen and Carr.

Again, coaching matters!