Chicago Bears: Fields Working Hard to Learn System and Lead Offense

Now that Justin Fields is the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback, he is hard at work learning the new system and becoming the leader of the offense.

For Chicago Bears Justin Fields, things are different this offseason than they were in his rookie season. Last year, he was feeling his way around the NFL. He had a head coach in Matt Nagy who didn’t have confidence in him.

This offseason, however, there is a new head coach and offensive coordinator who have great confidence in FIelds. The offense now will be built around his skillset. Head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will do what they can to put Fields in a winning situation.

With OTA’s going on, Fields has shown some of his skills not only on the field but also his leadership skills. He has impressed both the coaching staff and his teammates with how he’s handling his job.

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The new offense utilizes Fields’ attributes

The offense that Getsy is implementing really uses Fields’ best attributes. Last season, Nagy had his system set around Andy Dalton‘s skillset.

When Fields took over, Nagy did nothing to adjust. Dalton was a pocket quarterback who didn’t move around much. When Fields took over, it was the same system, disregarding Fields’ skills. The Bears had a struggling offense and Fields is great with his legs. Instead of moving Fields around, Nagy had him stay in the pocket, taking a lot of punishment. Opponents sacked him 36 times in 12 games. He had to run for his life on too many occasions and couldn’t just stand there looking for open receivers. As a result of running around for his life, he threw 10 interceptions against just 7 touchdowns. Additionally, he had 12 fumbles (five of them lost), most for any rookie.

Hopefully, that changes in 2022. Getsy’s offense will depend on the running attack more than Nagy’s did. That running attack also involves Fields. Getsy will utilize Fields’ legs not just to gain yards but to also move away from pressure. There will be a lot of roll-outs to buy Fields some time.

So far, Fields is impressing people. He’s taken to the new system and learning it quickly. Tight end Cole Kmet notices how well Fields is performing.

I don’t want to get too much in detail with it, but Justin’s on the move a lot, and I think he does well with that. That’s been exciting to see, and you see the types of throws he can make with his legs and on the run and off-schedule.

We saw in flashes last season how good FIelds can be, especially throwing on the run. He has a strong, accurate arm. That will be incredibly helpful when calling plays. Some quarterbacks just cannot get the same zip on the ball or be accurate when throwing on the run. Fields’ ability to do that opens up the playbook for Getsy.

Fields’ leadership on display

For his part, Fields is showing the leadership skills that impressed the previous regime so much they had to move up to grab him. With the new coaching staff, he’s doing all he can to soak up as much information as he can.

Fields knows that he and Getsy have to be on the same page. Getsy is impressed with how the young quarterback works.

We have to be on the same page, always. That’s where I feel like he’s grown, is communicating with me so well now, things that he’s feelings, things that he sees and so that part of it has just been tremendous for a young guy to be able to do that.

Fields is also leading his teammates. There has been a great deal of criticism of general manager Ryan Poles‘ lack of moves to give Fields receiving weapons. Poles signed a few receivers who haven’t exactly lit the board and he drafted Velus Jones, a receiver who projected to be a fifth-round choice instead of the third round, where Poles selected him.

Despite that, Fields has his teammates’ back. He feels that despite not having superstars, the receivers are working hard to avoid making too many mistakes and that they’re good enough to get the job done.

We don’t have an Odell [Beckham Jr.] or a Cooper Kupp on our team, but at the end of the day I think if everybody is on their P’s and Q’s, and we’re on top of everything and not making mistakes, the players we have right now are good enough.

I’m sure that after the abuse the Chicago Bears receivers receive almost on a daily basis it’s great to hear their quarterback say what he did. It makes them work even harder to prove him right.

Fields has the ability to make his teammates run through walls for him. He did that in college and now it’s happening at the professional level. To do that with a bunch of jaded veterans is a monumental task. Now let’s see what happens when the season begins.