Risky Business: Continuing to Run Justin Fields

The Bears would like to think they can duplicate what worked against New England for future games, like mainly Sunday at Dallas.

Getting Justin Fields out and moving in the pocket, or playing as an extra running back in Luke Getsy's offense might not be possible the way it was against New England's defense.

Then again, something else might be a better option against some teams.

"Yeah, I think once you put it on tape the guys have to defend it," Eberflus said. "Then you want to be creative in the ways that you do things and you want to do it in a safe way, cause it is your quarterback."

This was the real danger with running Fields a lot like he was an extra back. Fields slid or went out of bounds when he could, but was left prone to big hits otherwise as he ran for 82 yards on 14 carries, including five runs for first downs on third-down conversions.

"You want to make sure that you're doing it the right way," Eberflus said. "He has to know when to do things the right way in terms of to slide, when to get out of bounds and all those things."

The scripted quarterback runs the Bears had for Fields are a matter of matching the extra blocker and getting to the side he runs, but defenses have to be concerned he's not pulling up and passing on the run. So the defensive backs have to be less committed to stopping the run.

"Then he has the unscripted plays where on third down he drops back and will take off for a first down, or even on first down to that," Eberflus said.

This is what Fields has been doing all along, simply scrambling for wha the can get. On Monday, he ran for first down five times on third down.

"I think it's very hard to defend," Eberflus said. "I've tried to defend those guys over the years, and it's very difficult. We just have to do it the right way–0and we've got to be creative with how we do it."

Their primary focus when using Fields this way must be his health. The NFL landscape is littered with mobile quarterbacks who got beat up, injured and never reached their full potential. RG III is the prime example and the Bears are running a version of the offense he ran.

"Just gotta be smart, just gotta be smart about it," Eberflus said. "He's got very good instincts that way, so we trust him."

The other side of Fields running a great deal is how this could open something else up in the offense.

Apparently Eberflus didn't want to discuss those real other options defenses could give away are by committing to stop Fields' running, but he did bring up one other possibility which is interesting.

"It was some scramble drills," Eberflus said. "Guys got wiggled open. I think Cole got one; Mooney got one also on the sideline on the scramble drill. So we're working that.

"That's something we've got to do a better job of (is) once he starts to scramble and gets his eyes down the field, we've got to work our scramble drill. We've got to make sure we do a better job on that and we're continuing to work on that."

The bottom line is expect more Fields running, the type of which might be based on who the opponent is.

"He utilized his legs when he needed to and we thought he executed well on third down and the numbers show that," Eberflus said.

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