For the first time this offseason, someone at Halas Hall hit the brakes on the Justin Fields hype train.
Fields struggled with timing Monday, and the offense was noticeably off kilter throughout practice. It’s hardly alarming, but it’s a reminder that at 23 years old and 12 career games played, he still needs time.
“He’s working through the offense,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We’re changing up the scheme every day. We’re still adding plays as we go, and he’s learning the scheme. He’s learning his footwork within that play.
“When he has his footwork right, ball’s good, looks great. That’s what he’s continuing to do.”
Fortunately for Fields, he still has almost six weeks to fine-tune every aspect of his game before the Bears open the season against the 49ers. But regardless of any early hiccups, there’s no mistaking he’s in better position than he was a year ago under Matt Nagy’s watch.
From the moment the Bears drafted Fields, they said he would not play as a rookie. Nagy was committed to a fading Andy Dalton and intended to keep Fields on the bench in what he saw as essentially a red-shirt year.
That plan broke down when Dalton got hurt in Week 2 and Fields took over as the starter. Having spent the entire offseason working with the backups, however, unnecessarily slowed Fields’ development. The hindrances continued as Nagy failed to adjust to the quarterback change.
Fields played 12 games as a rookie, starting 10, and finished with 59% completions, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 73.2 passer rating. He also rushed for 420 yards and two touchdowns.
Between the coaching dysfunction and inadequate personnel around Fields, new general manager Ryan Poles said the surrounding issues “did cloud all of that” as far as evaluating Fields.
