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Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy spoke with the media for the first time in nearly three months Thursday on the second day of training camp practices at Halas Hall. It was a good opportunity to hear Getsy’s take on the progress quarterback Justin Fields has made running his new offense.
On that, Getsy was both positive and realistic.
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“He’s come so far from where we started, for sure,” Getsy said. “We still have a long way to go though.
“As far as like attacking the system and the knowledge of the system and what’s going on around him, he’s done a great job of that. Just getting the experience and those reps. The cool part about it is in a couple more days (on Monday) we get to put pads on, and this thing gets to be real. These helmet practices are great because you get timing and rhythm and stuff like that, but this game is a feel game, and the only way you get the real feel is if it’s the real thing. So these reps that will be coming down the road here will be super important for him.”
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Two of the offensive highlights of Thursday’s non-padded practice in front of fans were Darnell Mooney’s leaping grab of a Fields pass and Fields’ 30-yard dart to tight end Cole Kmet, who caught it between two defenders. On defense, safety Eddie Jackson intercepted a pass from Fields that bounced off wide receiver N’Keal Harry’s hands, and defensive back Lamar Jackson had a couple of big plays, including intercepting backup quarterback Trevor Siemian.
Kmet said his big catch was on a throw he and Fields had worked on a lot in the offseason. He later noted how his growing experience with Fields — after not getting many reps with him last summer — helped make it happen.
“I knew exactly where he was going to throw that and with the leverage I had on the guy, that was really cool to see,” Kmet said. “We’ll definitely build on that.
“A throw like today that happened down the middle, that doesn’t happen last year. We were working with another quarterback the whole offseason and then Justin obviously came in. … Now we’ve had a full offseason with one guy, and you can really build upon things and try some things out.”
Kmet echoed Getsy that there’s still a lot of room for improvement but said that’s to be expected at this early juncture after so many offseason changes.
“We’re getting more comfortable each day,” Kmet said. “We’ve still got a long way to go if I’m being honest, and that’s not a bad thing. That’s just where we’re at. We’ve got a whole training camp ahead of us to get this thing right and to get things rolling. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but guys are willing to put the work in.”
Getsy pointed to some execution issues Thursday that he wants to see eliminated, including false starts on an unsettled offensive line that saw center Lucas Patrick leave practice with an apparent injury.
“For me, it’s the lack of execution that I’m focused on right now,” Getsy said. “That’s what pisses me off more than anything is getting that stuff taken care of and getting that out of there and guys knowing what the heck to do so that we can talk about stuff like that as you get going.”
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To test players’ execution under duress, coach Matt Eberflus sprinkled situational football drills spontaneously through practice to see how players responded on the fly, rather than doing situational work at the end of practice. That resulted in some of the false starts Getsy mentioned.
“The guys didn’t have a chance to prepare, if you will, and so those were great reps,” Getsy said. “You saw we jumped twice and then we came back and did it a third time and we executed it really well. … That’s exactly why we did that so we can make sure that these guys can stay poised and not let that chaos that happens (affect them).”
One thing Getsy believes Fields has excelled at thus far is leadership, which will of course be of use to the Bears as they try to make day-by-day strides in the offense.
Mooney said Fields has been more vocal and assertive about it being “his team.” On Thursday, Fields threw routes with receivers after practice, and Mooney saw that draw in more players.
“You can’t just walk off the field,” Mooney said. “You’re like, ‘I’ve got to get more reps with him.’ ”
“That’s what’s so special about him,” Getsy said. “Forget all the athletic parts. That guy, the way he attacks every single day and his approach and leads by example. He doesn’t ask anybody to do anything he doesn’t expect of himself. That guy’s a natural born leader.”
