Matt Eberflus: QB No Different Than Others

The Bears found plenty to be disgusted about when watching film of their 38-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

This included Justin Fields.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus put Fields' play down in the same category of everyone else.

"He knows he can play better," Eberflus said Monday after film review. "He knows that. He's well aware of that and he's going to work diligently to do that. It's important that everybody looks that way. The offensive line, the receivers, the coaches, the defensive coaches, the defensive line, everybody.

"It's all hands on deck to improve. Because we want to improve this season as we go. We want to be a stronger football team every single week. We have room for improvement, as you can see. So, we're excited about getting that done. It's a challenge for our guys to work on that."

One play Fields immediately knew he made a mistake on was a red zone sack he took from Packers rookie Lukas Van Ness. Fields resembled the way he played early last year on that one, as he held it and waited too long to throw it away before taking a sack.

"I talked to Justin right after that," Eberflus said. "He knew that. He said, 'Get rid of it.' He doesn't need to take that one."

Another was the pick-6 thrown to Quay Walker. Fields, himself, said he made an error there after the game.

"I mean, that's on me," he said after the game. "I got to, if anything, give DJ (Moore) a shot

on the sideline on that. It is him or nobody. Or check the

ball down to Roschon (Johnson) or Cole (Kmet).

It was trying to do too much for the situation Eberflus contended.

"He ended up trying to squeeze it in there," Eberflus said. "It was obviously a good interception and a good return. Yeah, he certainly needs to scan the field there on that one."

That decision-making aspect of Fields' play is going to receive scrutiny from coaches and fans alike all year.

"I think he's OK right now," Eberflus said. "I think always looking at those things downfield, we can always improve on that. And the receivers need to improve on their scramble drill as well.

"It's not just him. It's also the receivers working the scramble drill, too."

Fields was mindful of checking down after going through his progression Sunday, but not to an extent that the coaching staff felt he wasn't being aggressive.

"We always want him to look downfield," Eberflus said. "That's an important piece to it. Certainly, before he scrambles and runs, we want him to take a look downfield to see open receivers if they are. We got to continue to work our scramble drill, which we work a lot of, because that's where our explosive plays come from."

This approach has nothing to do with all the screen passes the Bears tried to use Sunday, a strategy Eberflus saw as sound in concept but not execution—especially blocking on them.

"That has to improve," Eberflus said. "That has to improve. We all saw that, right? So we've gotta block the perimeter better. We've gotta sustain our blocks. We've gotta take better angles. That's part of what we need to improve, for sure."

Targeting DJ Moore wasn't exactly what Bears coaches wanted to see.

"The target thing is always a thing that people talk about," Eberflus said. "It’s important for us to be able to get the ball to our best skill. We need to do that. We need to do that as an offense. We have to do a better job there.

"Were the plays designed for him to go there sometimes? Yep. And they had some different coverages rolled up to him at times and different things that they were doing, which some teams are going to do, but we certainly have to find ways to feed DJ and feed our skill.”

Fields did maintain his composure as the game disintegrated, insisted running back Khalil Herbert.

"He does a good job of always staying right here," Herbert said. "So he was talking to the whole offense after we were just were walking through. Being really locked in, you know, it's a long season. It's just one game. One game doesn't define you.

"So find a way to bounce back this week and let's pull out a Dub."

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