Fields flourishes as Bears complete perfect preseason with 21-20 win over Browns
Progress.
That's what we wanted to see out of Justin Fields and the Bears' offense during the first half of Saturday's preseason game at Cleveland on Saturday.
And to say we saw some would be quite an understatement.
Fields threw 3 touchdown passes on the first five drives, completing 14 of 16 passes for 156 yards before being pulled for backup Trevor Siemian.
The Bears led 21-6 at halftime and went on to post a 21-20 victory to wrap up a perfect 3-0 preseason.
It was a terrific final tuneup in all phases for Matt Eberflus' squad, which now sets its sights on the regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field on September 11.
Fields and the No. 1 offense produced just 3 points in four possessions in the Bears' first two preseason games against Kansas City and Seattle. Eberflus and his staff decided the unit needed more time to gel and vowed to get most of the starters a full half's worth of work against the Browns.
Facing a depleted Browns defense that was missing half of their starters, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy mixed things up by calling for rollouts, screen passes, quick tosses to wideouts and deeper throws down the middle.
Granted, this is still preseason, but it was the kind of play calling and execution that was almost entirely absent during Matt Nagy's time as head coach.
"He did have a nice outing. We thought he did a real good job," Eberflus said of Fields while speaking on WBBM, 780-AM "Obviously it takes more than one guy and the offense - for the most part - did a nice job of run blocking, pass protection (and) the ball was out on time. It was a good show."
The Bears' first scoring drive went 80 yards in seven plays and ended with Fields hitting tight end Ryan Griffin for a 22-yard touchdown. Fields' throw was perfectly placed between two converging defenders.
Before that, Fields connected with fullback Khari Blasingame on a 6-yard swing pass; ran for 9 yards; connected with Dante Pettis for 14 yards on second-and-20; and hit Cole Kmet for 8 yards on a rollout.
"Just getting more comfortable," Fields said.
Fields' other 2 TD passes were a 12-yarder to Pettis and a 24-yard strike to Kmet.
The plays leading up to Fields' pass to Kmet were impressive, too, because in recent years that drive likely would have stalled after Khalil Herbert was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on first-and-10.
Instead, Fields found Kmet for 4 yards to set up third-and-7, then connected with Herbert for 6 yards to make it fourth-and-1 on the Browns' 26-yard line.
Getsy quickly called for a QB sneak, and Fields easily lunged forward for 2 yards and a fresh set of downs.
On the very next play Fields hit Kmet to give the Bears a 21-0 lead.
Fourteen different receivers caught at least 1 pass. Pettis (3 for 37) and Kmet (3 for 36) stood out among the starters, while Isaiah Coulter (3 for 61) wrapped up a strong preseason with a solid second half.
Roquan Smith sits:
Standout linebacker Roquan Smith was expected to play against Cleveland on Saturday, but ended up sitting out. General manager Ryan Poles told the FOX broadcast team that Smith tightened up during the pregame workout.
"I think everything's gonna be all right with him," Poles said.