The Chicago Bears suffered another disappointing defeat to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, but there were still some encouraging things to come out of the loss, including rookie quarterback Justin Fields’ progress.
Fields, who completed 16-of-27 pass attempts for 174 yards, one touchdown, one interception and rushed for 43 yards, was particularly critical of himself in the loss.
“I think I should have played better,” Fields said. “I didn’t play as well as I wanted to.”
But head coach Matt Nagy focused on the positives, particularly how Fields showed great command of the offense on both scoring drives at the beginning and end of the game.
The Bears offense got off to a hot start with an 8-play, 80-yard scoring drive on their opening possession. On that opening drive, which marked the third time the Bears have scored on an opening possession at home this season, Fields completed 3-of-3 passes for 46 yards and took a deep shot that forced a pass interference penalty to set up a Khalil Herbert one-yard score.
“I put in my notes this morning after watching it the second time that that was play five, six and seven within the drive,” Nagy said. “Those three plays right there for Justin were special. The very first play he took a three-step drop, nice little hitch and a corner route to Darnell Mooney right on time. That was a professional throw, professional play. Great play by the line, everybody.
“The very next play, he comes back and they run a Cover 2 and he hits Allen Robinson in the side pocket there down the sideline. Great throw, great catch, great execution. Follows it back up with a good chip protection shot play, where the safety’s playing kinda tight, cutting a deep cross. And he goes with the post alert, which is what we teach him. All of that happened on time and in rhythm. When you can play quarterback and play on time and in rhythm, you see good things happen. That was awesome, those three plays right there. We got a pass interference in the end zone, we get the ball at the one, we score a touchdown. I thought for him that was great.”
Unfortunately, it took six more drives until Chicago was able to find the end zone. Trailing 17-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Fields orchestrated a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive to keep his team in the game.
Fields completed 5-of-5 passes for 64 yards, as well as a key 14 yard scramble, that resulted in a five-yard touchdown pass to receiver Darnell Mooney to cut the deficit to 17-14.
“We were challenged with some different things within that drive, whether it was a scramble, whether it was decision making, whether it was a throw,” Nagy said. “Those 11 plays right there, that was one of the better drives of the season. And for sure, I think, Justin’s best. All of that, when you go back and look at those plays, that’s what gets you excited is being able to see that. Now, we need to do more of that. And how do we get to that?”
Fields showed promise on those two scoring drives, and he’s only going to get better with more experience. Now, the key becomes executing those kind of drives on a more consistent basis. If the Bears can do that, they can compete with some of the better teams in the NFL.
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