CHICAGO – New Bear coach Matt Eberflus had a very simple answer on how he would handle the second-year quarterback Justin Fields when the team begins to install a new system.
“Build behavior around him and his strengths,” Eberflus said Monday, after being introduced as the 17th head coach in franchise history. “What does that look like? Right now I don’t know.
“We have to look at him. We have to evaluate him. We have to see where his skill set is. And then see his camera. How does he see the game? He is. how fast is the handle? How can we stretch him as we go?”
Eberflus and new general manager Ryan Poles had plenty of offenses as they took over the Bears from Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace respectively. Nagy inherits former Bears midfielder Mitchell Trubisky – which ultimately failed. Now Eberflus and Poles are in a similar situation, inheriting Fields, who was drafted last year and has Rocky rookie season. The Bears are 27th in scoring in 2021, averaging 18.3 points per game.
“I am very excited,” Fields said Monday. “Having a head coach on defence, I feel there are some positives to that. I feel like attacking, you kind of know what the defense is doing, but you don’t know they’re finishing. When you have a defensive head coach, he can explain to you what their job is, what their certain duties are in a certain area, because So I think it’s a plus to have a defensive head coach.”
Eberflus is the defense coordinator for Indianapolis Colts before taking over in Chicago. The group hired the former Green Bay Packers Midfielder coach Luke Getsy will run the attack, but he and Eberflus are also inheriting a squad largely devoid of players – aside from Fields.
“Explosive athletic prowess was one of the traits we were looking for,” says Eberflus. “That’s equivalent to chunk plays on attack and it’s equivalent to stopping chunk plays on defense. If you want to score you have to get chunk plays and big plays. That’s how you do it. score.”
Poles is a former assault soldier, so it’s not surprising that he believes the “foundation” of the assault unit begins there. Bears already has a powerful running game with rewards David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert According to the Contract. But Fields will be the one to decide whether the new Bears mode will be successful.
Eberflus was asked if he considers the 22-year-old a franchise midfielder.
“Right now, we’re looking at people through the same lens, which means we’re going to go back and we’re going to look at those people with a new eye and we’re going to see where they are, in terms of what they need to thrive,” says Eberflus.
Then asked about his thoughts with Fields, Eberflus made his point clear.
“We are building the attack around the defence,” he said.
For his part, Fields plans to talk to coaches about the new system, whatever it may be.
“It’s important for coaches that their players run well,” Fields said. “They already have a basic idea of what my strengths are, but I can communicate with them and tell them what my strengths are, we can move on together on the same page. But there will be some. new thing we didn’t run last year it works and I’ve never run before. … And when the training camp rolls around, I’ll know it.”
While the Bears’ fan base is expecting big things from the new coaching staff, patience will be part of the process. That’s especially true of a new general manager, coach and team who are only second-year full-backs.
“Then let’s grow and grow and grow,” said Eberflus. “What can we do now? What can we do on the road? And we have to be creative, you have to be creative when you commit a crime. We intend to.”
