Bears quarterback Justin Fields had just finished his first NFL preseason game when someone asked him how he was adjusting to game speed.
‘‘It was actually kind of slow to me, to be honest,’’ he said after facing the Dolphins on Aug. 14, 2021. ‘‘I think I was expecting it to be a little bit faster. But practicing, game speed, going at it with my teammates . . . it definitely slowed the game up a little bit for me.’’
Two days later, ESPN’s ‘‘First Take’’ did a seven-minute segment about his comments. At one point, the show’s chyron read: ‘‘Do You Like Justin Fields Saying This?’’
The talking heads didn’t seem to notice when Fields returned to the topic Sunday. After the Bears’ 29-22 loss to the Vikings, Fields said he was as comfortable as he felt all year long.
He reiterated Tuesday that, for the first time, he feels as though he’s playing at his own pace.
‘‘I think it came with time, to be honest with you, came from mistakes . . . ,’’ he said. ‘‘Last year, I felt like sometimes I’d speed up myself or be crazy pumped up because everyone else is.
‘‘But I think playing quarterback, the more you can stay calm, the more you can stay relaxed, the better you’ll play.’’
Despite what Fields said as a rookie, he couldn’t be expected to learn how to handle game speed in practice. Fields didn’t learn it last season, when he cobbled together 10 starts amid injury, illness and then-coach Matt Nagy’s refusal to name him the starter.
What was encouraging about his showing Sunday — in which Fields posted a career-best 118.1 passer rating and 71.4 completion percentage — was that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was comfortable letting Fields develop his identity as a passer.
‘‘That’s part of playing this position,’’ Getsy said. ‘‘You can’t say or feel those things unless you experience it in the games. He’s got a few more reps under his belt now, so I think he’s starting to play within his style and his ways, and he’s finding his own way within our system and helping his teammates around him.’’
And playing within himself.
‘‘Playing quarterback, you have to have a rhythm,’’ Fields said.
Fields credited breathing exercises he learned from the Bears’ yoga instructor, who works with players at Halas Hall two days before every game.
On the field against the Giants, he tried deep breathing — in for four seconds, then exhaling — a few times. He did so more often Sunday. Fields noticed that when he breathed deeply immediately after his 52-yard touchdown run — which was wiped out by Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s illegal-block-in-the-back penalty — that he felt less tired.
In other moments, it relaxed him.
‘‘Doing that automatically keeps me more calm in the pocket,’’ Fields said.
Fields’ long-term growth matters more than immediate success, though his performance against the Vikings was a welcome respite after four weeks of struggles.
Getsy doesn’t like to make grand statements — ‘‘I’m just not that kind of person,’’ he said — but he was willing to say Fields improved Sunday.
‘‘There’s been progress, right?’’ Getsy said. ‘‘And we’re sticking to the plan. I thought he did a really nice job in that game in the sense of he kept his composure. They got off to a big lead, [and] he kept the team together. . . .
‘‘We’re getting a little bit better each week. And that’s truly our purpose; that’s our goal.’’
He hopes it’s just the start.
‘‘That’s the experience part of it that’s hard for everybody to have patience with,’’ Getsy said. ‘‘It’s cool that he’s seeing that or saying that, but hopefully what he sees and how he views everything 10 games from now . . . hopefully he can even say that more dramatically.’’
