The Bears and quarterback Justin Fields have been talking about his improvement as a passer all offseason. Now opposing defenses will test that.
There’s little doubt the Packers will prioritize keeping Fields in the pocket, which is sensible given that he rushed for 1,143 yards last season but was last among NFL starting quarterbacks at 149.5 yards passing per game. Until he shows he can throw consistently, defenses probably will load up against the run.
“That’s fine with me,” Fields said before practice Wednesday. “We’ve looked at the defense and [will] react to it. So whichever way we’ve got to beat them, that’s the way we’re gonna do it.”
In just two seasons, Fields has already had a wild ride against the Packers — though all four games were losses.
He played decently against them in his debut in the rivalry in 2021 and had a 27-21 lead on them in the third quarter at Lambeau Field later that season. Fields completed a season-low seven passes in the Week 2 game at Lambeau last season, then played one of the sharpest games of his career in a 28-19 loss in Week 13.
“Our team grew during that time,” coach Matt Eberflus said of the improvement from Week 2 to 13. “The record didn’t show that, but if you watched both those games, there was a growth in there — there was an execution piece in there, there was a style.
“It’s our whole football team and [Fields] is included in that. He certainly performed better in that [second] game, and we did as a football team, too.”
