The Ways Bears Helped Justin Fields

Their quarterback didn't get an elite receiver in free agency or the draft and they're lacking a right guard but they have taken steps to complement his game that often ar

It doesn't take much to discover the "narrative" for Justin Fields and the Bears for this season on the networks during telecasts.

Every telecast will start with some broadcaster's message about how the Bears didn't support Fields.

Simply search for whether they helped him enough this offseason. Here is an assortment of what turns up.

• NBC Sports—Bears draft grades roundup: Where's the help for Justin Fields?

• The Athletic—Why Velus Jones Jr. at No. 71? No draft help for Justin Fields?

• SI.com—Justin Fields Is Why the NFL Needs a Transfer Portal

• Football Outsiders—The Reckless Abandonment of Justin Fields

• USA Today—Fans are worried for Justin Fields after Bears target defense in NFL draft

• Sun-Times—Bears’ post-draft review: Did Ryan Poles get enough help for Justin Fields?

For each one of these there are hundreds of different stories and an infinite amount of social media posts saying the Bears have ignored Fields.

The bottom line, many say, is they don't really plan to have him at quarterback in their future.

If that was the case, there were plenty of ways going into this offseason for GM Ryan Poles to get rid of Fields by bringing in someone he would have had more confidence in. They couldn't have done it without giving away too much and they didn't do it because they believe Fields can be the answer.

Fields is the guy and the Bears would maintain they've been saying it all along.

They simply couldn't spend every possible amount of limited cap space they had available this year on players for offense because it wouldn't have been enough to do the job and would have kept them from finishing the task next year. Now they have the cap space to make an impact in 2023.

Poles explained it all very clearly back during the owners meetings when free agency was only a few weeks old and plenty of potential signings still existed.

Apparently no one listened when he said of Fields:

"I think he's going to be put in a situation where he's going to be comfortable, and … allowing him to do what he does best is going to allow him to grow from that point." 

Poles also said during the winter meetings in March: "I want to give him everything I possibly can, but you still have to construct an entire team. You can't go blank in one area and then just load up in one area; I think you'll be offset. We're always going to be aggressive to get him the tools that he needs to be successful. It's just the timing and the talent level and the cap situation; all of those are going to dictate when we can go and we can't go."

They went with a plan aimed largely at making a big strike next year because it was impossible to do anything really meaningful this year without harming the future of the rebuild due to their cap situation.

However, they actually have done things to help Fields in ways very few analysts mention. Here they are:

1. Fired Matt Nagy and have Luke Getsy at OC

The first bit of help was done before Poles came on board. Ending the Nagy era and hiring coach Matt Eberflus meant offensive coordinator Luke Getsy would end up running the new attack. Getsy said he has designed it around his talent at hand. He's playing to Fields' strengths.

No one argues this was ever done by Nagy, whose idea of offense seemed to be pulled right up out of the Arena Football League from whence he came as a player. He ran the Kansas City offensive system but deep down he used the old wing-it approach of indoor football. Things occurred like the Cleveland debacle last year, when Fields' first start came accompanied by a game plan providing  no extra blockers to face a blitzing defense. Getsy wants to run the ball. He is using the wide zone blocking scheme to do so, and his offense could open up lanes for Fields to exploit, run or pass.

It's going to move Fields into the open field where he can use his legs or throw on the run, two particular strengths. Nagy talked about this, dabbled at it and only occasionally did it, but that's because it wasn't really what he wanted to do. It was all about Nagy, not Fields.

Better running means better play-action and both mean more time for Fields to throw even if his offensive line isn't among the best or most experienced at the season's outset.

Scheme and play calling matter. They matter more than talent. Otherwise, no one would ever fire coaches. They would simply change the talent and GM.

2. Better Center

One criticism of Poles' offseason was how he didn't improve the offensive line. They did improve it by bringing in Lucas Patrick at center. He had better Pro Football Focus grades as a center than Sam Mustipher each of the last two seasons.

The right guard spot is the main hole right now. The tackle spots are questionable but those are second-year players who were deemmed to have the talent but just need to play. If they thought they needed to bring in a veteran to start for Larry Borom or Teven Jenkins, then what was the sense of drafting them in the first place? They were drafted to play.

The line overall won't be better at first, but a better center is a start toward a better line. When the tackles gain experience, the improvement could happen.

3. Better Tight Ends

Cole Kmet naturally will be better in his third year than when he had 60 catches last year in his second season, but the other two tight ends they added are upgrades over last year's second and third tight ends. Jessie James caught only seven passes and Jimmy Graham at 35 years old during last season was good for only red-zone use with 14 total catches. Both James O'Shaughnessy and Ryan Griffin have played far more vital roles in their teams' offenses as receivers and blockers the last two years than the second and third Bears tight ends in 2021.

4. The Scramble Drill

The Bears may not have added elite free agent receivers or Day 1 or 2 draft picks at receiver but some receivers they brought in are particularly adept or at least experienced at helping a quarterback to extend plays.

They know how to run the scramble drill.

Allen Robinson never proved himself particularly good at this and neither has Darnell Mooney. Both are good receivers and they had quarterbacks who were physically suited to this style of play. The Bears just didn't do it well, and because they seemed to have the personnel capable of it the only possible assumption to be made is they weren't coached at it correctly.

One of the first things Byron Pringle said was he has always been good at this, and playing with Patrick Mahomes made him better. Equanimeous St. Brown is very familiar with it after coming over from Green Bay with the best quarterback at buying time until a receiver comes free. Getsy coached this extensively with Aaron Rodgers and his receivers as both the receivers and quarterbacks coach. Another new Bears receiver, Dave Moore, was part of something similar in Seattle with quarterback Russell Wilson.

Bears receivers have never been good at this even though they should have been because they've had mobile quarterbacks dating back to 2017. Perhaps now, with receivers who do know how to do it, and with coaches very experienced at it, they'll gain yardage on broken pass plays after the QB steps out of the pocket.

5. Takeaways

The idea is to create takeaways and get the ball back for Fields. 

The Bears couldn't do it with the defense they had the last three years. The new scheme is aimed at taking it away through interceptions or fumbles. Two new defensive secondary starters could contribute to more takeaways and more chances for Fields.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven