Real key to Justin Fields' growth tops questions Bears face as OTAs begin
Key to Fields' growth among looming issues Bears face as OTAs begin originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The long winter has ended, and Phase III of the Bears' offseason program begins Monday when OTAs start at Halas Hall.
General manager Ryan Poles made noteworthy improvements to a roster that went 3-14 in 2022. He bolstered the offensive line, added an elite wide receiver, finished rebuilding the secondary, and started on the defensive line remodel.
All of Poles' moves have created a super-charged current of optimism around the 2023 Bears. The schedule is soft, and quarterback Justin Fields now has the support system around him to make the jump from exciting playmaker to star signal-caller.
At least, that's the plan.
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Here are the four most pressing questions facing the Bears as OTAs begin:
Chemistry exam
Fields exited the 2022 season with reason to be proud of his Year 2 leap but also aware that he still has a lot of work to do to cement himself as the Bears' franchise quarterback.
That starts with polishing his footwork. Rhythm and timing are everything to the Bears' passing game. Fields' footwork threw off that timing too often last season. The 24-year-old quarterback has spent his offseason fine-tuning his mechanics to ensure that isn't the case during a make-or-break third season.
"I think it's just as he progresses in this system and as a quarterback in general, he can improve his accuracy in a lot of different ways just by tightening up his footwork," quarterback coach Andrew Janocko told NBC Sports Chicago. "That's him, but really that's any quarterback in the league. You see the guys that have that footwork, have that tempo, that rhythm, every year they lead the league in passing and they are the guys with the highest completion percentage."
Fields' mechanical issues often cost him easy completions on shorter throws in 2022. He has said that not missing the layups is a focus of his entering the 2023 season.
While the footwork and the mechanics are a vital part of Fields hitting the necessary checkpoints as a passer this fall, they aren't the only thing that has to be on point for this season to end in success.
The key to that lies not only in Fields’ improved footwork but in the offseason chemistry he must build with new wide receiver DJ Moore and Chase Claypool.
Fields has a great connection with Darnell Mooney and an improving rapport with tight end Cole Kmet. But if the Bears’ passing game is going to click in 2023, Fields’ will have to be in sync with the Bears’ big offseason acquisition in Moore and the team’s biggest X-factor in Claypool.
We didn’t get a fair judge of Claypool after his midseason arrival. He has the speed and size to be an excellent field-stretching weapon for Fields. Improved chemistry with Claypool will force safeties to respect the deep ball and open up the intermediate area for Moore, Mooney, and Kmet.
Last season, Fields was tied with Lamar Jackson for the best completion percentage on throws between 10-19 yards at 66.7 percent. Claypool’s vertical ability can open that area up for Fields. But, if the chemistry between the two doesn’t improve, that plan looks flimsy at best.
As for Moore, his arrival is expected to spark Fields’ ascent in the same way AJ Brown did for Jalen Hurts.
If Fields is going to take the desired jump this season, he has to be on the same page with Moore and Claypool.
That work has already begun and reaches a critical stage when OTAs start Monday.
Who is on the edge?
The Bears' pass rush was abysmal last season. Trevis Gipson led the team in pressures with 30. Safety Jaquan Brisker led the team in sacks with four.
Poles addressed many of the Bears' key needs this offseason but only added DeMarcus Walker to an edge-rushing group that lacked teeth in 2022.
The Bears are looking at every avenue to add to their pass rush before training camp begins. Several veteran free agents, including Yannick Ngakoue, Justin Houston, Leonard Floyd, and Frank Clark, are still on the street.
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Any of those players would significantly improve the Bears' pass-rush unit.
But until those additions arrive, the Bears will be relying on Walker to carry the edge-rushing unit and hoping that Gipson or Dominique Robinson improved enough in the offseason to make their pass-rush respectable.
Unforeseen competition?
When David Montgomery elected to sign with the Detroit Lions in free agency, it felt like a foregone conclusion that Khalil Herbert would take over as the lead running back in the Bears' backfield, with free-agent acquisition D'Onta Foreman spelling him.
But Foreman arrived and said he signed with the Bears to be the guy. Then, the Bears drafted Texas running back Roschon Johnson in the fourth round and have done nothing but sing his praises ever since.
Competition on?
"I would say the vision isn’t necessarily set yet," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said about the pecking order in the running back room. "But I think it’s a really cool and unique opportunity for a lot of guys who have a lot of experience. I think the competition in that room is going to be real. So we’re going to get to see the best come out of each one of those guys. And it’s super important for that position to have multiple guys who can do it, right? I mean, there’s not … I don’t know if there’s any team that can rely on one guy anymore with the pounding and the length of the season and all that stuff. So I think it’s awesome that we have as many guys as we do that we feel we can count on."
Herbert is an excellent one-cut-and-go back for the Bears' wide-zone scheme. His breakaway speed gives the Bears a true home-run threat out of the backfield. But Herbert's pass protection has been an issue early in his career, and he doesn't give the Bears as much in the passing game as Montgomery did.
Johnson doesn't have Hebert's explosion, but he can do everything well. He's an expert tackle-breaker, a good pass-catcher, and an able pass-protector.
Herbert will get the RB1 carries when OTAs begin, but I wouldn't be surprised if this competition goes down to the wire in training camp.
Contract extensions?
The Bears have three key players eligible for contract extensions in Kmet, Mooney, and cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
Mooney, who had season-ending ankle surgery last November, told Amon-Ra St. Brown and Equanimeous St. Brown that the Bears want to see him run and cut at full speed before those talks start. Mooney is on track in rehab but has not been given the all-clear.
In February at the Super Bowl, Johnson told NBC Sports Chicago that he and the Bears had "preliminary" extension talks but that he expected those talks to ramp up during the summer.
Kmet should be the betting favorite of the three to ink his extension first. The Bears constantly praised Kmet for his work both on the field and in the locker room last season. The tight end market isn't as expensive as it was two or three years ago, so the Bears should be able to get Kmet locked up on a fairly reasonable number.
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