In Justin Fields Bears Trust
The Bears/Justin Fields trust conspiracy theorists are out again.
NFL Network's Marc Ross, the former NFL executive, rekindled an old flame that seemed doused long ago.
The narrative goes along the lines that this Bears coaching staff and GM Ryan Poles do not think much of Fields so they're keeping him in place until next draft or free agency when they can actually bring in someone of their own choosing.
"It just seems as if they don't trust Justin Fields to throw," Ross said.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus quickly sought to snuff out any thought of this on Monday.
"Yeah, oh yeah, we trust him for sure," Eberflus said. "We were going with what was working. Like I said last night, I just think you need balance because it keeps a defense honest."
What was working was David Montgomery running, so they kept feeding it to him or Khalil Herbert. It was that simple.
Fields himself had said before the game offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said they planned to run it "down their throats." Combine that with the actual success they had running it in the second half after the Packers backed off of the line of scrimmage while expecting more passes, and you get only 11 passes for the game. It was circumstance and not plan or a negative reaction to Fields to have so few.
Earlier this offseason there was never anything at all to support this thought the Poles/Eberflus regime doesn't really want or trust Fields as their QB, beyond the fact they chose to be intelligent rebuilding and immediately dump all the dead cap space. This let them shorten the length of their rebuild by giving them more cap space next year, and so for this year they've had to go with lower budget receivers. Some perceived this to mean they were going to dump Fields after this year too, which is ridiculous.
Rain and
When they won the first game over San Francisco and also went unbeaten in preseason with Fields throwing for three TDs in a half against Cleveland in the final exhibition, it seemed most of that gibberish dissipated.
It's back now after Fields threw only 11 times on Sunday against Green Bay. Ross pointed out they have only let him throw 28 times so far.
It's funny how one week can be so quickly forgotten in the NFL.
That's true, but Fields threw it 17 times in Week 1 largely because they were playing on a wet sponge of a field in a downpour.
Sure, the 49ers let Trey Lance throw 28 times then, but that was their downfall. One less and maybe Eddie Jackson doesn't get an interception that helps lock up the game. Passing was a foolish act in the first game and the Bears still got two touchdown throws out of it from Fields.
This doesn't mean it's always foolish to pass, and Eberflus on Monday said they plan to get more out of the passing game going forward.
"I think that it is a concern," Eberflus said. "We want to get better at that. We want to improve. There's no question."
A big part of this is getting Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet more targets. Mooney, their leading receiver last year, has two catches for minus-4 yards this year and Kmet none.
"I think you've got to highlight your skill like we highlighted D-Mo (Montgomery) last night running the football," Eberflus said. "He's a good runner. We have good run blockers. We highlighted that last night and that was a good postiive coming out of the game.
"So in the passing game let's highlight our skill, let's feed the guys that have skill that can take a short throw and turn it into a big gain, that can go downtown. And we have a good deep thrower. We should utlilize that, too."
So, it doesn't sound like a team lacking confidence in the quarterback's arm as much as one needing more emphasis on it and better execution in all aspects of offense beyond the running game.
As a rebuilding team, the Bears need more controversy about the quarterback position like they need another visit to Green Bay.
Controversies need the be supported by more than accusations and this one has no basis in fact.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
