The Ways Bears Keep Improving on Offense

The 40 points by the Bears offense against Washington was their most since December of 2020 but they think they can get even better and know how.

There are numerous ways the Bears offense can get better even if they just scored more points than in any game during Matt Eberflus' coaching regime, or even since Fields became their starting quarterback.

There's one aspect where Fields really sees a need for personal improvement.

"I'm playing ball, and the main thing is just being locked in from the first through the fourth quarter," he said. "Me personally, I think I can do better in the second half with staying locked in and keeping all the guys locked in and putting up the same amount of points we do in the first half.

"I think that's the next step as an offense, is just keeping our foot on the gas and not letting up and keep putting up points."

This would mean point production as if they were the Miami Dolphins.

Close Games Better

The thing is, Fields does need to close better in the second half of games. He still has only one comeback win in the fourth quarter and two game-winning drives authored in Year 3.

Even though there was no late comeback Fields did exactly what he needed to do in the fourth quarter. He led the Bears to 13 points, including the short pass to DJ Moore that went for 56 yards and a TD.

However, he did go only 3 of 9 in the second half of the game as Washington turned up the pressure on defense.

Fields ranks 32nd this season in fourth-quarter passer rating at 61.2. It's quite a bit worse than his passer rating overall of 95.4. He's 27 of 50 in fourth quarters (54%) and averages just 6.7 yards per attempt then.

"I think I'm just focused on continuing to get better each and every day," Fields said. "I think the offense as whole, we've gotten better each and every week. Our main goal is to do that, to keep getting better and keep going."

More Even Pass Dispersal

Another way they can improve is to start dispersing the ball better. Fields completed five to tight end Cole Kmet (42 yards), two to tight end Robert Tonyan (10 yards) and eight for 230 to Moore. Darnell Mooney, Khalil Herbert and Equanimeous St. Brown got targeted without catching a pass.

With future opponents certain to double-team Moore at a greater rate than the Commanders did Thursday, Fields needs to have other options.

It will really be critical this week with Minnesota so heavily reliant on blitzing under defensive coordinator Brian Flores. They have blitzed over 56% of plays according to Sportradar.

"I do expect them to cloud a little bit," Fields said of double-teams on Moore. "We know they're a high pressure team. Definitely gotta be ready for that."

The Bears have handled the blitz to varying levels. They had a difficult time against Tampa Bay in Week 2 with the blitz, but Washington blitzes a lot as well and the Bears had little trouble when the Commanders brought an extra man in the rush.

In fact, the Bears have faced five opponents who are all in the top half of the league in blitz percentage including Washington and Denver.

Even More Explosive Plays

The other way they keep the offensive momentum going is to keep producing big plays, or "explosive" plays. That's pass plays of 20-plus yards and runs of 10-plus yards.

The Bears were ranked 18th last year in explosive plays but are third this year and have had 12 explosive passes the last two weeks.

"I think as an offense you need explosive plays," Fields said. "So it get us in a rhythm. Of course it gets the momentum going. It's always positive to have those big chunks."

The key to getting the explosive passing plays, in the mind of coach Matt Eberflus, is simply trying for them.

"I would just say us taking the shots down the field," he said. "You look at last game. I know the guys made some plays or went for some plays and we ended up breaking off some big ones. I would just say the shots down the field, then guys executing the calls. We've just gotta continue to do that.

"Some are short runs and catches and some are shots down the field like the first third down we had. Those are designs and those have been executed well."

The key to these in many cases is trust, especially on 50-50- passes.

"It's a 50-50 ball, right?" Eberflus said. "When you throw it up there, on the outside fade ball, for example, you have to trust your receiver that he's gonna catch it or nobody's gonna catch it. There's a trust factor there.

"I certainly feel the chemistry with DJ and those guys going forward, but we need to do it with some different people, too. We need to do it with—put the ball around there and spread the ball a little bit more if we’re going to do that."

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