Bears Refocus on Empowering Justin Fields
The slower, deep breathing Justin Fields said he utilizes to stay calm during adversity in games apparently wasn't working well enough in the fourth quarter of the loss to Washington.
Fields is enlisting help in the form of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko when it comes to keeping calm in the face of adversity. And from the way the offensive line blocked, there was plenty of it.
"That was actually one thing that me, Luke and Andrew talked about," Fields said. "I felt like later in the game, like my internal clock was speeding up a little bit, just because of maybe the past pockets that I would get in the game.
"So I just told them if they feel like I'm getting antsy and maybe leaving the pocket too early when it's there, just remind me to reset—like reset after every play."
A passing pocket might help slow things down.
Offensive linemen are feeling some guilt for the frustration Fields said he felt after the loss.
"All I know is up front we have to do the best we can do and keep him clean because as we've seen multiple times we keep him clean or we give him rush lane to sneak out like, he's a verys special player," Bears lineman Lucas Patrick said. "And we need to live up to the standard that we have in our (offensive line) room and help him become the elite player that he is.
"Like, you can't change my mind that that guy is not a future stud in this league, like the way he throws it, the way he's consistent, the way he runs, just his postive personality."
Fields has been sacked a league-high 23 times and has been pressured on 31.2% of passes, second-highest just behind Daniel Jones (31.8%).
Fields is going to need all the help possible Monday night at New England because the Bears will be facing a defense known for giving younger quarterbacks unscouted looks and complicating matters for offensive lines.
"Yeah, I mean when you get unscouted looks, which everybody gives, right, you get those unscouted looks all the time," coach Matt Eberflus said. "You just gotta have good rules, make sure your rules and your systems are in place to really accommodate what they're giving you. And you just gotta go about your rules. And that's what we do."
Fields expressed great frustration after the last loss but is back to working at fundamentals. It's there where Eberflus has told him improvement will come.
"Just the footwork and the timing of the passing game," Eberflus said. "I think he's doing a better job and he's getting better.
"The one thing that impressed me last week, like I said after the game, was his ability to get us down in scoring position. That was some remarkable plays there. And actually at the end he did throw a couple of good passes to put us in position to win that game. So that to me was the most impressive thing about him and he’s getting better each week."
There are things the Bears can do to make it easier in games besides reminding him to calm down and take it easy.
For one, they can try more planned quarterback runs in the red zone. Eberflus admits it's a possiblity.
"When you have an athletic quarterback, the guys around the league that can run the ball and run it effectively," Eberflus said. "Certainly he's fast and can do that.
"We always want to be able to look at all those options to get the ball into the end zone and down the field. We’re looking at all those things right now."
Fields isn't particular. He'd like anything to work and then he could avoid frustration at game's end.
"Just whatever we can do on the offensive side of the ball–just executing," Fields said. "Just getting the run game going, of course. Just getting completions and having guys run, so I think that'll definitely help, for sure."
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