Playing Freely Comes from the QB

Apparently Justin Fields isn't the only one who thinks he is being handled incorrectly when it comes to Bears coaching.

The quarterback he'll be opposing in a regular-season game for the first time on Sunday said as much about Fields.

Reporters in Kansas City asked Patrick Mahomes about Justin Fields' situation, after saying this week that he was being coached into being robotic.

"Trust your talent," was Mahomes' message to Fields given through KC reporters. "Trust your instincts. He's here for a reason. He's made a lot of big plays happen in the NFL and in college, wherever he's been.

"Go out there and be the player he's always been. Just not against us, hopefully."

It's the second time in a week an opposing player said something like this. The other time it was Devin White telling DJ Moore on a mic during the game that the Bears are using him incorrectly.

Devin White Mic'd Up Vs Chicago Bears

Talking to DJ Moore: "They ain't using you right"

Tell me about it. #BearsNation #DaBears pic.twitter.com/vOLPgx6TFS
— Swift Sports Network (@SwiftyNetwork) September 21, 2023

It might have simply been White trying to hot dog it on the mic or be Moore's buddy after years competing against him in the NFC South, but to say the Bears aren't using Moore right is rather presumptuous when the only game film of Moore prior with the Bears was a single loss to Green Bay when very little went right for anyone on offense. And if he was used incorrectly against Tampa Bay, then everyone should be used so incorrectly. Moore's six catches for 94 yards were totals both well above his career average, which is 4.5 catches and 65 yards.

Playing Freely Starts with Fields

In Fields' case, Mahomes somewhat echoed what Fields is saying. However, it's no simple matter taking an offensive system and then applying your natural abilities in a way to complement it.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy thinks the idea of overloading his QB with information is a mistaken notion. He thinks something else is going on here but does agree they need to work more at helping Fields feel he is playing freely.

"I think that’s part of the development part that we're in the middle of, right?" Getsy said. "We talk about him getting better every single week. And I think there's so many things that you can reflect on and look at that that you see that. And he's talking about, you know, Flus talks about the four to six plays a game that could change a game each week. And I think there’s that.

"Those are his moments, when he (Fields) feels like, when we reflect on it, you know, the next day as we're reviewing the film that he feels like, 'Man, I could be that difference.' And I think that's what he's reflecting on in those moments when he's talking like that. And I think that's our job to give him those opportunities to do it well and make him feel like he's comfortable in doing that. And I think he's starting to get better more comfortable with the guys he's playing with, right? New group of guys and he's starting to do a much better job with that as well."

The other problem with overthinking it or playing naturally might have been more specific to the Tampa Bay game and playing against coach Todd Bowles' complicated, blitzing scheme.

"I think more of what he's reflecting is just the process of the game," Getsy said. "So when you a play a guy like coach Bowles, who is going to present a lot of different things, there's a lot of different procedures that you have to handle pre-snap before you get to go play the play and that's where (Fields has) done a fabulous job. Like, from this point from last year to now, like, he handles that pre-snap stuff so well.

"And, like, he's not getting caught off guard by stuff and so then you take from that point on and go play the play. That comes from playing. That comes from the experience."

Getsy basically described the same process Fields did when he was describing issues he was having.

"It's the job of the coach to give them the information, let them absorb it and then go out and practice it and try it and do it each week," Getsy said. "And I think each week he handles it much better, each and every week, since the time that we've got here.

"But it doesn't matter if you're coaching the quarterback or you're coaching the offensive line or tight end, that is the key of the coaching—being able to diagnose what kind of person that you're coaching, their learning style. You have to dial into that. And I think that's important with every single guy in that room."

The offensive coordinator the Bears are going against this week described a somewhat similar situation while he was Bears head coach. That is Matt Nagy.

Fields had been struggling in 2021 after a great game in a loss to Pittsburgh, was injured, and Andy Dalton played in his place. TThe offense looked more fluid, albeit unsuccessful.

"So I think that we all understand as coaches, his teammates all understand as players—Justin's teammates—that when he's out there, there's gonna be some concepts and some defenses that he's never seen in this league," Nagy said at the time. "So it might not look as natural or as easy, but that's gonna happen and I think with Justin when that comes and when you develop him and you're patient with that, you can really reap the benefits of his talent and his DNA of who he is as a person.

"But there’s patience with that. And I think that’s where, when you have patience with a rookie quarterback and you don't anoint him a Hall of Fame quarterback within the first year or two. You just have to understand there's gonna be some valleys as you go through it."

Buccaneers Were a Test of His Progress

So here it is in Year 3 and Fields' rookie year is long behind. He has faced Bowles' defense in the past. He did it in Nagy's system in 2021 and looked awful. He didn't look good on Sunday. He had a 44.1 passer rating in the 2021 loss to the Buccaneers but it was 20 points higher at 61.1 Sunday.

Either way, he didn't handle all the blitzing and the options possible for countering it.

Teammates have understood what Fields is saying about needing to play freely, yet there is a fine line.

"We ain't robots and we gonna go out there and play the game that we been playing since we was kids and make it that way the best way we can," Moore said.

However, this kind of talk only goes so far. It's not playground football or the video game Madden. There is structure to what they all do on the field and Moore recognizes this.

"I mean, everybody wants to play freely but you still gotta play within the scheme of things and then we add our own flair to it, whether it's him, me, (Darnell) Mooney, Chase (Claypool), anybody, the running backs.

"We've got to make it our own."

It's two years after he faced Tampa the first time and Fields didn't get a lot better at making it his own against that defense despite having better weapons and a different attack.

Aaron Rodgers played freely within this same offense, so it can be done if the QB does it. The coaches can't do it for him, they can only provide ways to attack. Fields needs to take the initiative.

The quarterback has to know the offense well enough and the opposing scheme to act freely on his own.

If he's going to add his own flair to the Bears offensive system, he'd better set about doing it quickly because time is running out while he's trying to locate the delicate balance between playing within the system and free of constraint.

Mahomes found this elusive spot quickly after almost a year of watching Chiefs games in 2018. Now he's legend.

The Bears will see Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium what it's supposed to look like when a QB succeeds at blending an offensive system with playing freely.

They'd like to see two QBs who can do it.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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