Passing Connection for the Future

From their evaluations of Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney, there is great promise offensively in the minds of coach Matt Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles

If first impressions are as important as often is said, a few Bears on offense are already well ahead of the game with the new people in charge at Halas Hall.

Not surprisingly, both GM Ryan Pace and coach Matt Eberflus told the media at the NFL combine Tuesday how impressed they've been with quarterback Justin Fields' professionalism.

The other player who has really caught attention has been wide receiver Darnell Mooney.

"A bright spot was Mooney," Poles said. "And then just as guys have come in to work out we've had the opportunity just to introduce each other. And he stopped in and I was, like, really blown away by the person. So that was a bright spot."

More specifically, Poles sees Mooneyas mentally prepared for success.

"Just, he's got a quiet confidence about him and he's hungry to be special," Poles said. "I'm always looking for guys that they just keep raising their own bar in terms of where they want to go. He wants to be special. I think you can feel that in him."

He already sees Mooney as an example for future acquisitions.

"Well, really it shows me we've got to keep getting guys like that and keep adding them to the roster because if everyone has that mentality and starts pushing each other then all of the sudden then the team starts to raise the bar and the standard. Then it's wins, then it's the division and then it's going for championships," Poles said.

Mooney was a surprise as Poles watched tape and then met the third-year receiver from Tulane because of unfamiliarity. Fields had already met Poles and coach Matt Eberflus, but the more they've seen their QB the better they like his skills and attitude.

"I think there's something about the guy that's a stoic kind of feel you get from him, and serious and locked in and the focus, and he's ready to go," Poles said. "So I think theres a high ceiling and, again, it's just putting him in a postion to succceed and seeing how high that ceiling is. And our coaches are excited about him too which is really cool."

When it comes to Fields, the new Bears brass knows he is anything but a refined product. Poles noted aspects of what he saw on film from the 33-22 loss to San Francisco that caught his attention as real strengths that the personnel department and coaching staff need to build off of to achieve success with Fields.

"You could see it through different flashes of tape," Poles said. "I think there was a couple of plays in like the San Francisco game him moving out of the pocket and throwing with control and his base is set.

"So a lot of that is fundamental, too, but then just allowing him to make those throws that he's really good at. And then, like I mentioned before, it's just wherever he has struggled it's just cleaning that area up and we'll see if we can close the gap and get him to a place where we can win a lot of football games."

Eberflus pointed out how Fields gets rid of the ball as one area he needs to clean up.

"I think more importantly it would be ball out—you know, getting the ball out of your hands fast and making quick decisions, I think, is what's going to be the important thing for us to do offensively," Eberflus said. "When you take shots you take shots and you match them up and you protect. You have to do that during the course of a game, but certainly getting the ball out is going to be criticial."

This isn't all on offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Fields talked at the hiring press conference for both Eberflus and Poles about what he can learn from a head coach from the defensive side, and Eberflus already is planning this.

"I think it's a dual education," Eberflus said. "So when we're sittig there in the quarterback room when they get back in the building I'm going to be able to impart some knowledge there in terms of what they're trying to do defensively—not only what the scheme looks like but actually what the techniques are and how you're going to take advantage of those techniques, be it receiver option routes or what the reads are for Justin and work closely with Luke and (QB coach Andrew) Janocko on those things."

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