It's Ground Floor Up for Justin Fields

For Justin Fields, the part about throwing a football is what's familiar.

The unfamiliar part is what he'll be working on when the Bears begin organized team activities on the field next week.

Those include applying a brand new offense he doesn't yet fully understand, being a field leader at the pro level and learning about the pro game from veteran quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Nick Foles while getting fewer snaps.

Serious business

Part of the leadership aspect already started to surface, and it began simply with calling the plays in his first huddles at rookie camp.

"The only different thing about our offense is that at Ohio State we did signals from the sidelines so actually getting in the huddle and calling the play out is the only different thing," Fields said.

Teammates remarked about how he quickly became the authority in the huddle, and his serious tone.

"He's 100 percent about business," tackle Larry Borom said. "It's not fun and games when we're on the field. It's definitely 100 percent business and he wants to do the job at the highest level that he can."

There is a method to what Fields has shown in the huddle. Even if he didn't have much experience at using a huddle at Ohio State, he knows how it's done.

"It's just, you know, calling the play call with confidence, having a loud voice and just really taking control over the whole offense and really showing your teammates and the people who are out there on the field with you that you're the guy out there – that you have full confidence not only in yourself but in your teammates," Fields said. "Even if you do make a mistake, you make it at full speed.

"I think here that's a couple ways to show that you're the guy out there and you're doing all you can to get better."

Fields quickly put leadership abilities on display and coach Matt Nagy noted it. A route run by one of the receivers at rookie camp should have been performed differently and Fields let them know.

It will no doubt take on a different dynamic when he's the rookie trying to lead a veteran group rather than other rookies.

"Everyone has their own leadership style," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "He can get after you if need be but he also can put his arm around you and connect with you that way, kind of pull guys along with you."

Getting the offense down

Fields holds no false illusions about learning the offense and knowing it perfectly in a very short amount of time.

"I know I'm not gonna come out here and, you know, be mistake-free," he said. "Mistakes are gonna happen as a rookie. It's just learning from those mistakes and getting better each and every day. And just progressing."

Shortly after he began Zoom classes and started rookie camp work, Fields said he thought the offense wasn't a great deal more complicated than Ohio State's attack. As the layers of the onion start to peal off, so to speak, it's probable he'll think otherwise.

"Every day that he gets out there, it'll get better and better as he starts to really learn the intricacies of this offense," Nagy said.

It started simply enough—with flash cards Fields used to memorize formations.

"I think if you want to be great at something you have to work hard at it," Fields said. "I want to be great at leaning this playbook so I’m going to work hard at it, of course."

From Fields' quick ability at Ohio State to process the offense, to the small amount taken in so far with the Bears, Nagy is confident in his new quarterback.

"Justin's a very bright kid," Nagy said. "He's football smart; he understands X's and O's and then he also does a great job at understanding post-snap vision. That's so crucial in this game is being able to recognize that."

Day saw Fields quickly understand the offense and possess the ability to make post-snap adjustments at Ohio State. He pointed to one blitz Fields saw and then adjusted the route on the fly. It wasn't the only advanced maneuver.

"There was a play in the Clemson game that we didn't even run going into that week," Day added. "We kind of put it up on the sideline. It was a play we'd run previously. He was able to do that. I think that's part of his evolution, the mental part of the game."

Nagy even saw evidence of Fields making post-snap reads at the rookie camp.

"So for him to have that is going to be really, really big to be able to grow, especially against the defenses that we're going to see even in training camp as well," Nagy said.

Doing his due diligence

The part about being behind Dalton and working with Dalton and Foles is an entirely new dynamic for Fields.

Nagy said at the end of rookie camp that Dalton is taking the first-team snaps now, so it means Fields and Dalton take snaps with second- or third-team players.

At least Fields will be getting reps in offseason and training camp as a backup. The regular season is when the starter gets all the play repetitions.

"What we're telling Justin and Nick to do is make sure that they're doing everything they can to try to be that guy, and that's that competition part," Nagy said.

To Bears quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator John DeFilippo, dealing with the lows of not playing after preparing like he will play is going to go a long way toward determining success Fields has when he finally does get on the field.

"And I was a backup quarterback for lot of my career so I understand it is the low," DeFilippo said. "You spend all that time preparing like you're the starter and then the low when you don't get in there. So you got to be almost mentally tougher as the backup than you do as a starter because you can't say, 'oh, you know, I'm going to bet on not playing this week. I'm going to home early on Wednesday night. And ehh.'

"You can't do that. You got to bring it every day. And that's hard. It's hard."

For Fields, it's just another step he'll have to take if he wants to be the one running the huddle, leading the team, knowing the offense and making the plays on game day.

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