QB Changes Make Coaching Offense No Picnic

Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said he normally likes to reflect on where things are with different components of the attack after a season.

There's no time like the present considering there might be no time left for the Bears coaching staff after this season.

And the obvious aiming point on offense is determining how Justin Fields did at fitting into the offense as a rookie, and where he goes from this point?

It's actually a proper point for such commentary because there's a possibility they've seen the last of Fields for this season. His ankle injury remains a problem to the point where he is the only quarterback unable to do a full practice this week. On Thursday he had a limited practice for the second straight day while Andy Dalton and Nick Foles went through full practices.

"I mean, I want him out there, but I also want him to be healthy as well," receiver Darnell Mooney said. "So if he's not healthy, I don't want him going out there and injuring himself just trying to fight through it and play through it when he's not 100 percent or at least 90 percent healthy to play.

"Eventually, we'll get our time. "We've been getting a ton of reps in so if he's able to go out there and play, it'll be good. But if not, I mean, I definitely want him to get healthy before anything."

Whether they see Fields again or not, Lazor does like how he saw Fields progress to the point where he could lead late-game heroics.

"I think of ups and downs happening within the game, especially for a rookie quarterback," Lazor said. "Some of the things that stick to me, stick in my mind are the drives to take the lead at the end of some of the games in the second half of his time that he played so far.

"And watching from the press box, him maybe have a play that he didn't handle just like he wanted to early in the game but then (to) still be able to finish the game the way he has been able to finish some of these games. With fourth-quarter drives for scores, I think have been pretty impressive."

It is true Fields has done this, but so have the two quarterbacks after Nick Foles did it last week.

After each quarterback managed to handle late scoring drives, it's possible their offense overall reached a better level than it had been at earlier. Lazor loved the execution on the two-minute drive last week, particularly the start with Mooney's 30-yard catch and run.

"When you watch that as a coach, you feel like, 'OK, we've gotten through to these guys,' " Lazor said. "It's not magic. It's execution under pressure, as if there was no pressure.

"You just operate and do your job and be as efficient as you can."

Lazor called the 30-yard completion to Darnell Mooney an example of all aspects of he offense blending together—pass blocking, blocking downfield, passing, catching and yards after the catch.

"The play stopped because of the penalty on the defense, but it was just a sign that the unit is clued in to how we want to get it done in those situations," Lazor said. "And so I felt really good when we saw that happen. And I think that's what's been helping us in those situations is just, 'Hey, we've got to be a machine, operate all together as efficiently as we can."

Considering the Bears have had all three quarterbacks start and all three finish at certain points, and overall this week could be making their fourth starting quarterback switch of the season, perhaps it's not surprising the passing attack was mired.

It's not an easy job preparing a quarterback on a moment's notice like they did last week with Foles, with no actual full practices held. They did it earlier with Dalton on Thanksgiving.

"That's difficult. It is hard," Lazor said. "And I'll say this: Hat's off to Nick Foles, because when you're going through a week it's hard enough to prepare as the starting quarterback when you have one week to prepare for this point.

"Make it harder, a short week right after a Monday Night Football game. Now all of a sudden, you don't know at the beginning of the week for sure who the starter is going to be because of injuries, and you don't get all the reps all week in practice because guys are limited and in or out. That's hard."

At least this week they've practiced, even if they don't have the starter decided.

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