Sharing the Load New for Justin Fields

Perhaps one thing led to another.

It's hard to tell, but Justin Fields had just thrown a wide receiver screen pass to DJ Moore Saturday in the first half and it popped wide open for a 62-yard touchdown pass. Then there Fields was, on the edge and in the open like so many times last year, an open invitation for him to run the ball.

Yet, there was someone else with great speed and he was upfield a few yards and open. Fields did not tuck and run this one or heave it downfield into coverage. He let his playmaker make the play the way Moore had done. And Khalil Herbert took a short toss, then turned it into 56 yards and a TD.

Maybe Fields had more confidence in teammates and their ability to make plays after he had seen what Moore could do.

Or perhaps it has become apparent to him now in Year 3 and Year 2 in the offense and Year 1 with a group of weapons that the quarterback disperses the football. He doesn't always need to be the guy bearing the burden of Chicago football fortunes on his shoulders.

If he has reached this epiphany then the only people who will be upset are NFL defenses and the fantasy football owners who thrived on his scrambling and big pass plays.

The short catch and the run by a receiver has become a lost art in Chicago the last two years with Fields as quarterback. It wasn't all his doing, but they finished tied for last in the NFL in yards after the catch in 2021 with Matt Nagy as coach. They finished dead last in 2022.

The difference is a group of playmakers, starting with DJ Moore, and also probably with Fields himself as he matures as a passer.

"When you increase your skill on your football team the catches and the runs get larger, and the stat line looks beter," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. "So we are going to con nue to do that, and certainbly we are going to take our

shots down the field as well, but it's a good thing to see.

"And it's not a real big surprise to anyone that

has been around because we have all seen it in practice, so just have to keep working. We have a long way to go."

Fields seems more comfortable with this idea of letting someone else do the work.

"Like I said before, just any me you have those playmakers where you can throw the ball 5 yards on a slant and he can take it 60 yards, that makes my job easier, it makes the O-Lines' job easier," Fields said. "After a period of time where you're dipping and dunking those short passes, the defensive coordinator gets impatient and starts blitzing more, pressuring more, playing more man-coverage, and that's when those deep shots just naturally happen. I think it's going to be a good thing for us this year."

Fields even threw a pass in the flat to fullback Khari Blasingame. That first pass he threw, was 11 yards. Consider Blasingame had been targeted only once all last season despite showing good hands while in Tennessee as fullback in 2021. He even caught a short pass and turned into a 50-yard play against the Bears in preseason.

So perhaps Fields really has advanced.

He said at the end of last season he had to get better at making the little plays. Those were two little plays he made that became big plays.

Whether it's in his ability to read defenses or run this offense, or it's simply in being more mature with decisions and taking the check-down, he looks different.

Having a supporting cast makes a difference.

It means never having to say it's all on your shoulders, no matter how capable those shoulders seem of carrying the load.

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