There's Nothing Wrong with Bears Approach
Darnell Mooney sometimes reveals a great deal with a comment or two.
During training camp the Bears receiver hit a nerve by simply saying the team practice harder than anyone.
The HITS principle of Matt Eberflus has been receiving severe scrutiny this year since the coaching honeymoon ends after a year, even in a rebuild. Rightly or wrongly, the avalanche of injuries they experienced in training camp are being blamed in some circles on Spartanesque practice habits under Eberflus.
On Monday, a day after the 27-17 loss to Tampa Bay, Mooney may have opened another can of worms, intentional or not.
Asked whether Justin Fields should run more, Mooney somehow kept from laughing. After all, a wide receiver should be the last player trying to urge a quarterback to run because it means fewer targets in the passing game.
"I mean, you can't really say all those things," Mooney said. "I think last year, I don't think he was doing that until we kind of changed things to make it fit for our offense within what we had.
"We're still kind of trying to figure out what we have and what we're good at. Last year, you didn't think he would just run the ball until probably a couple weeks in the season when you're understanding, 'This works for us, so we're gonna continue to do that.' We're still trying to figure out what works for us. It's not too soon, not too late or whatever. Obviously you don't want to be 0-2. If we're 2-0, we're not talking about what works, we're probably still trying to figure out what works, but we're still trying to figure those things out."
What he's saying is they don't have their ID yet as an offense.
You don't want to hear this because it was something Matt Nagy talked about ad nauseum whether his offensive coordinator was Bill Lazor or Mark Helfrich.
They do have an ID already and it's what they're doing now. This is what they were doing last year before offensive coordinator Luke Getsy switched his offense up to accomodate Fields' skill set as a runner.
This came against New England on Oct. 24 after they lost the heartbreaker to Washington on the last play and then had a mini-bye.
The problem is, that was then, this is now.
The Bears didn't trade for DJ Moore because they want to run the wishbone or a single-wing attack. Sure, the Eagles had Jalen Hurts and started out using his running extensively, but they, and Hurts, morphed. The Bears need to do this, too.
Fields is supposed to be a quarterback. He has weapons. He needs to stand and fire. Or they can move him and let him throw. Or he can move himself and throw.
Either way, this offense needs to be trying to avoid at all costs becoming the 2022 Bears, who had a higher rushing percentage than any team since 2004.
The rushing by Fields might have been exciting but after they went to that style attack against New England and won, they never won another game. They had won two before that using a style more similar to this current attack, except with poor receivers.
Fields running needs to be complementary because it's not that difficult to stop it for a defense if it's all they have to worry about. Considering the Bears have used their own running backs like museum pieces, there was little else for the Buccaneers defense to worry about—especially when Fields wasn't exactly sharp passing.
Fields on the zone read wasn't there.
"I tried to pull it one time–the first on a read," he said. "I should have handed that one off. And, you know, the other times we did a read option and the defensive ends played me."
They don't need Fields running it because the goal is seeing him develop into a passer who runs at times. If he's not going to do it, he's of little value.
It's time for Fields to be the quarterback they want him to be and not the fantasy football phenom but struggles in reality.
The receivers are there. The offensive line is still forming with both starting guards out at leThisast half the 10 sacks Fields has taken have been his own fault for holding the ball too long.
Last year they caved to temptation and used an unsustainable offense.
If they're going to use someone to run it, try using the backs. They signed D'Onta Foreman to play him, not leave him inactive. They have Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert for this. The running game with backs balances the offense and makes it difficult for defenses to either tee off on Fields throwing or to focus on him too much on the edge so that he can run it on occasion.
Now it's time to find out what Fields can do as a passer because at this point both they and Carolina are winless. In theory, the Bears could still wind up with the first two picks in the draft and quarterback would be an option.
If they're not going to be good, they might as well find out what their future can be -- or won't be.
This time it's Fields who needs to change, not the offense.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
