WESTFIELD, Ind. — Justin Fields looked like he needed more work, but instead he will get less this week.
Minutes after a shaky offensive performance in the second joint practice against the Colts at their training-camp facility Thursday, Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Fields “and selected starters” would not play against the Colts in the Bears’ second preseason game Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“He’s not playing. And the selected starters are not playing in that game because of the work we’ve done here,” Eberflus said following Thursday’s practice.
Fields, who played seven snaps with the starting offense in the Bears’ preseason opener against the Titans last Saturday at Soldier Field, might not play in the preseason finale against the Bills on Aug. 26 at Soldier Field. So his next game could be in the regular-season opener against the Packers on Sept. 10 at Soldier Field.
The joint practices against the Colts carry that much significance for the Bears’ coaching staff. Last year, when the Bears did not have joint practices against another team in the preseason, Fields played 57 snaps in the preseason — including 30 in the finale against the Browns.
“The joint practices, that’s not something we always do. But it’s something we’re doing this year,” Eberflus said. “[Sitting Fields on Saturday is] what we thought was best for our football team at this time and then we will discuss the third game [next week].
“We’ve got a bunch of good practices next week against each other heading into that Buffalo week. We’ll decide at the latter part of that week what’s going to happen.”
Eberflus said Fields wanted to play, as expected.
“He always wants to play. I mean, he’s a football player. He’s a competitor.to do what’s best for the football team.”
That Fields and likely most of the offensive starters will not play against the Colts is not a big surprise. Fields was likely to get only token snaps at most. But after another inconsistent performance by the offense, it’s clear there is a lot of work to be done before facing the Packers.
Protection was leaky at times, with center Cody Whitehair leaving practice early and right guard Nate Davis limited. Fields threw an ugly interception when a jump-pass over the middle for tight end Cole Kmet was deflected and intercepted by Colts linebacker E.J. Speed. Fields completed a downfield pass to DJ Moore on the final play of that team drill. He also was eight-for-eight in a 7-on-7 drill with a short field.
Eberflus accentuated the positives, and said Fields is where he expected him to be at this point of training camp.
“I think he’s right on pace,” Eberflus said. “He was eight-for-eight with four touchdowns in 7-on-7 — that was excellent. Rhythm, timing, he’s getting better there.”
But Eberflus tacitly acknowledged the offense as a unit still needs work.
“Sometimes it’s a protection breakdown It’s always everybody. It’s the other 10 guys that need to operate,” Eberflus said. “Are we running the routes correctly? Are we protecting him the right way, giving him time? And going those things it takes ot have an efficient passing game.”
Eberflus is always going to protect his quarterback. On one play Thursday, Colts’ cornerback Kenny Moore blitzed Fields and seemed to make contact — a training-camp practice no-no. Moore, an undrafted free agent from Valdosta State who blossomed into a Pro Bowl player in Eberflus’ defense, heard about it from his former coordinator.
“I know Kenny and I love Kenny, and he’s a great player and a great man,” Eberflus said. “He came off the edge. We had our protection break down, and at the very last moment ou tackle pushed him.
“I told Kenny after that play, ‘You’re athletic enough to move out of the way’ and veer from that, and he agreed. We just need to do a good job of staying away from both quarterback and keeping them safe.”
It remains to be seen if the offense’s inconsistent play is part of the growth process or a harbinger of things to come. But even tackle Teven Jenkins acknowledged the offense should look better than it did Thursday.
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Jenkins said. “I mean, like four weeks ago we have a bad day, we have a good day. Today we go have a bad day, good day. It is what it is. It’s football. Somebody has to win and sadly today we didn’t make as many plays as we wanted to.”
