‘Stay on the same page. Communicate.’ The Chicago Bears are preparing rookie QB Justin Fields to face a high volume of blitzes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Chicago Bears are continuing preparations for Sunday’s game in Tampa, Fla., against the reigning Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. Coming off a 24-14 home loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Bears are heavy underdogs in their attempt to upset Tom Brady and Co. Here’s what we learned Thursday at Halas Hall.
1. The Bears are preparing Justin Fields to face a high volume and wide array of pressure looks this weekend.
For a rookie quarterback, the task of solving the Buccaneers defense won’t be easy. Not only do the Bucs have one of the most formidable front sevens in the NFL, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles leans on a blitz-heavy approach to attack opposing offenses.
Fields will have to stay poised and be mentally in tune with what he’s seeing. And as Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor emphasized Thursday, everyone on offense will have to be sharp to account for the pressures they encounter.
Said Lazor: “You hope that everything you face, even if it’s unusual or even if it’s coming series to series in different ways, falls into the rules we first put in during training camp. … Communicate, be on the same page. As we’ve faced this (defensive) scheme with veteran quarterbacks, it’s really been the same thing.
“For Justin it’s a great learning lesson for him. ‘Hey, this is why we install things the way we do in the offseason. This is why you have OTAs and you’re here in May and June to learn all the rules and get everyone together. Then you repeat it in training camp.’”
Lazor is eager to see how Fields handles the Bucs.
“Throughout the course of the season you’re going to face some teams where their blitz schemes are small amounts and you can really zero in,” Lazor said. “Then you’re going to face some times like this, where (the Buccaneers) have a wide variety (of blitzes) and you just have to stay with your rules. It’ll be good learning for him.”
2. The Tom Brady-Justin Fields quarterback battle is notable on several fronts.
For starters, Fields is literally half Brady’s age, giving Sunday’s game the greatest age disparity between starting quarterbacks in NFL history. Brady celebrated his 44th birthday in August and Fields turned 22 in March.
In addition, while Brady, a University of Michigan product, will be making his 306th career regular-season start Sunday, it will be his first against an opposing quarterback from Ohio State.
“That’s interesting,” Brady said Thursday with a smirk. “Why are there not a lot of Ohio State quarterbacks in the pros? A lot of Michigan guys over the years. But not a lot of Ohio State guys.”
If Fields meets up with Brady before the game, he may want to issue a reminder that he and his Buckeyes beat Michigan 56-27 in 2019 and that Ohio State has won 15 of the last 16 meetings in the series.
Brady was also asked Thursday about his infamous slip-up in last season’s 20-19 loss to the Bears when he didn’t realize it was fourth down on his final incompletion of the night.
“Seems like a long time ago. But actually it wasn’t that long ago,” Brady said. “That hasn’t happened very often in my career. For some reason, that happened at that moment.”
Brady said last season’s stumble against the Bears was a tough loss that the Buccaneers learned from.
“There were a lot of self-inflicted issues. There were a lot of penalties. There were a lot of miscommunications,” Brady said. “There were a lot of things that weren’t clean. And then ultimately we had the chance to win the game in 2-minute (drill) by going down and kicking a field goal and we don’t get the job done. Penalties. Not coming through in critical situations. … You have to stress that and continue to stress that all the time. It’s not like that’s ever a finished subject either. You have to work at it every day. You have to sharpen your skills.”
3. The Bears remain uncertain about the possibility for Robert Quinn to return in time for Sunday’s game.
Quinn was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday after testing positive for the virus. If he is vaccinated, he would be able to be taken off the reserve/COVID-19 list as soon as he is asymptomatic and produces two consecutive negative tests separated by 24 hours. In the meantime, Quinn remains away from the team.
Fellow edge rusher Khalil Mack again missed practice Thursday with the foot injury he is dealing with. Mack has missed nine of the last 11 Bears practices. Akiem Hicks (groin), Tashaun Gipson (hip), Bilal Nichols (knee) and Jakeem Grant (ankle) also didn’t participate Thursday.
Allen Robinson (ankle) and Caleb Johnson (knee) both returned in a limited capacity. Darnell Mooney (groin) and J.P. Holtz (quad) were also limited.
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