Justin Fields Saw It Coming
Justin Fields saw it coming, all of it.
He knew the long pass to Darnell Mooney was coming and so did his wide receiver. He knew a better game was coming because he'd been through tough times before and came out of it. And Fields knew before the game it would be better simply because he felt better about everything in his second NFL start but first at home. He was right about it in a 24-14 victory.
In his second start, Fields had the kind of effort he would have liked in his starting debut the previous week during the Bears' 26-6 loss at Cleveland.
Fields' biggest play as a Bear may have been a good indication of what could be coming in the future.
Mooney and Fields glanced at each other before the play in recognition of a defensive look they liked, and the Bears quarterback then let loose with the kind of deep ball that all of Chicago hopes becomes standard issue on game days. It went for a 64-yard gain to set up the second touchdown.
"I mean, me and Justin locked eyes and once he looked at me, I was like, 'OK,' " Mooney said. "So I gave my eyes to the safety. The safety I found out where he was and I took my route higher."
Mooney couldn't score but it led to David Montgomery's second touchdown run for a 14-0 lead.
"I'm not going into the specifics of that play," Fields said. "But he knew he was getting the ball on that play. Like I said before, he ran a great route and it was a great play by him."
Fields parlayed that big gainer into a few more, such as a 32-yarder to Mooney and a 28-yarder to Allen Robinson on a "dagger" route in the middle of the field during the final Bears touchdown drive.
It was a far cry from a week earlier for Fields, when he had trouble standing erect as Cleveland amassed nine sacks.
"I felt good," Fields said. "I feel like before the game, I know when I'm in a rhythm and I know when I'm feeling good, so I felt good just coming into the game, throwing the ball. I felt good, so I knew it was gonna be a good day today."
Having confidence in the game plan helped.
Bill Lazor called the plays, coach Matt Nagy revealed after great prodding from the media following the game. Nagy tried to paint it as a team effort with himself, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo all involved and to some extent that was true. Still, it was Lazor calling plays.
"After Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays, me, Flip, coach Nagy and Bill, we all get together and pretty much just pick out my favorite plays, the plays I'm most comfortable with and just go through them like that," Fields said. "That way we're all on the same page on what they're thinking about calling in certain situations and certain down and distances and stuff like that."
A gaudy 12.3 yards per pass attempt by Fields on 11 of 17 for 209 yards told the tale of a much more effective passer, although his passer rating was held down by the one tipped interception he had.
“I felt good," Fields said. "I feel like before the game, I know when I’m in a rhythm and I know when I’m feeling good, so I felt good just coming into the game, throwing the ball. I felt good, so I knew it was gonna be a good day today.”
Besides feeling good, he also felt the whole situation was familiar.
"I've been in tough spots before, and my mindset was just to bounce back from last week, just to get better and keep pushing," Fields said. "I saw Russell Wilson posted a tweet this past week saying, 'I love adversity,' and I truly do love that because it just brings a whole different person out of me, and in some ways I'm glad last week happened.
"I think if we would've won last week, it wouldn’t have pushed us as much to get better and practice hard."
Fields didn't show much of anything last week when he really didn't have a chance to set up and throw. Sunday was different.
"Whether it's now, whether it's tomorrow, whatever it is, all I wanted to do and see with Justin—and we wanted to see—was exactly what we saw today, which is growth," Nagy said. "Were there things that he could get better at? Yeah. That's every quarterback in the NFL. Understanding that and knowing that.
"Now it's our job, unlike last week when you lose, now you win and you still have a lot of the same corrections of certain things."
Whether those corrections for Fields are aimed at a third straight start will likely go on into next week much like it did this past week. One winning effort wasn't causing Nagy to proclaim the rookie his starter going forward.
Andy Dalton remains the starter and takes over when his injured knee heals.
"All we wanted to do, quite honestly, today, was win the game, go to 2-2, and be able to talk about everything else as we go," Nagy said. "You (media) guys know in regards to Andy, we're working through what he went through this past week.
"So we'll see where he's at. Justin had to focus on today and winning this football game and getting better and I think he did both those things."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
