The pass was delivered with recognizable purpose and precision. Shotgun snap, quick play fake, then a short shuffle left and a decisive release.
With his top receiver making a crisp break on a slant route, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a fastball into Lambeau Field’s north end zone Sunday night. Allen Lazard, with inside leverage on Chicago Bears rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon, snatched it with relative ease.
Five-yard touchdown.
Celebratory fireworks exploded in the fall sky. Then a small end-zone soiree broke out. Surrounded by teammates, Lazard used the football as a kettle and began pouring a few cups of a mystery drink.
Offensive linemen Yosh Nijman and Jon Runyan Jr. took fake swigs from their imaginary cups, became woozy, then pretended to pass out in the end zone. Same for receivers Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins.
“Just drinking some tea,” Cobb told reporters after the game.
It was a tongue-in-cheek nod to Rodgers’ summer revelation that he experienced an awakening during an ayahuasca tea high in 2020 in Peru, with the psychoactive drink taking him on a spiritual journey he believes helped him win NFL MVP honors the last two seasons.
With an increased focus on unconditional self-love and, as always, a concentration on beating the Bears, Rodgers often sees things other quarterbacks can’t, creating offensive enlightenment with his playmaking flair. Sunday’s touchdown pass to Lazard was a prime example of a quarterback locked in and in total control.
That was the night in a nutshell during the Packers’ 27-10 victory. Rodgers, while far from as spectacular as Bears fans are used to seeing, was solid and made a handful of big-time throws, including that first-half scoring dart.
The Bears, meanwhile, passed for 48 yards while completing just seven passes the entire night. They had twice as many punts (four) as completions of at least 10 yards, and they left Wisconsin with disappointment.
Perhaps in need of some ayahuasca tea — either to envision what high-level offense in 2022 is supposed to look like or to provide attentiveness and morale through their current unease — the Bears now must work toward their own transformative awakening in the final full week of September.
With that in mind, here’s your comprehensive Week 2 QB rewind.
Defining moment
It would be easy to gravitate toward the Bears’ failed fourth-and-goal run from inside the 1-yard line as the play that characterized the night. Without question, that was a big moment as officials ruled that Justin Fields was stopped a few inches short of the goal line and a replay review upheld that call.
An argument could be made that Fields pushed across the plane of the goal line to score, which would have brought the Bears within 24-16 with 8:07 remaining.
Fields was convinced he scored. So, too, was running back David Montgomery.
“I saw a touchdown,” Montgomery said. “I was right next to the ball.”
Even Packers coach Matt LaFleur was urging defensive coordinator Joe Barry to ready a call for a possible Bears two-point try.
“I thought it was pretty inconclusive,” LaFleur said. “Whichever way it would have gone (with the on-field ruling), it probably would have held.”
Fields felt the Bears could have stolen the momentum had they gotten a favorable call there.
“That changes everything,” he said.
We’ll have a bit more on that sequence, specifically the shotgun QB run Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy dialed up for that moment.
But perhaps the more telling moment on a night full of sloppiness was Fields’ illegal forward pass in the second quarter. A 31-yard third-down completion to Equanimeous St. Brown was taken off the board because Fields was already a good 2 yards beyond the line of scrimmage when he threw.
Was that an unfortunate mistake? Absolutely. During a disastrous second quarter in which the offense netted only 3 yards and never picked up a first down, the Bears needed some kind of spark. But their young quarterback couldn’t provide one.
On that sequence, it appeared Fields had a chance to run for the first down as he took off from the pocket. Instead, the Bears took a 5-yard penalty and a loss of down and summoned rookie punter Trent Gill.
“I was just like, ‘Dang!’” Fields said. “I have to get the ball out earlier. Or just run it.”
Correctable mistake? Gosh, you sure hope so. But that play’s breakdown and Fields’ brain fart also typified the night, with the offense out of sync and lacking proper awareness for much of the game.
With a six-man protection against a four-man rush, the Bears should have been able to give Fields enough time to throw. But Packers defensive lineman Kenny Clark slipped around guard Lucas Patrick on a stunt and disrupted Fields at the top of his drop.
Fields alertly climbed the pocket to escape but may have been too eager to run. Until, of course, he became overexcited and threw.
While there was disruption from Clark, the front of the pocket was still clean, offering Fields an opportunity to climb, reset and throw. Bears coach Matt Eberflus acknowledged as much Monday.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think he feels that too. For sure.”
This is part of the Bears’ ongoing mission to sharpen Fields’ pocket poise and feel, to teach him to carve up defenses from within the pocket even on plays that aren’t blocked perfectly or run with ideal precision. That’s a skill and a sense Fields has to continue honing to be taken seriously as a potential NFL standout.
Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. principle calls for situational smarts as one of its key tenets. In that particular instance, Fields made a big-stage gaffe that only will elevate the outside criticism and worry about his readiness to break through.
Including that miscue, the Bears went 1-for-7 on third down against the Packers, and their .286 percentage in that category through two weeks ranks in the bottom 10 of the league. For now, that’s a warning sign and a cue to Bears coaches that their work in improving Fields’ pocket awareness has only just begun.
Uh-oh
On the Bears’ second snap of the second quarter, Fields threw a quick screen left to his favorite receiver, Darnell Mooney, who had motioned from right to left in front of Fields before the snap and then looped back behind him.
Packers cornerback Rasual Douglas, however, read the play well and slipped inside tight end Cole Kmet’s block attempt, pulling Mooney down for a loss of 4 yards.
Kmet took a beating on social media for not blocking Douglas. But the play’s rhythm and precision also were discombobulated with Mooney catching Fields’ short pass inside the numbers, a yard or two too far to the inside of the field. That allowed Douglas to shoot his shot and prevent Mooney from getting outside for a possible chunk gain.
That was Mooney’s only touch all game. He was targeted one other time — on a fourth-quarter deep shot that sailed 3 yards too far. Mooney found himself one on one against cornerback Eric Stokes and ran a nice deep route, turning Stokes around with his break inside. But Fields, on a play-action rollout to the right, misfired and never gave his receiver a chance to make a play.
Through two games, Mooney has two catches for 4 yards, the poster child for how stagnant and ineffective the passing attack has been.
That will be a major story in Week 3 as the Bears try to pick themselves up for Sunday’s visit from the Houston Texans.
Mooney came into the season expected to make a major jump — or at least match the 81 catches and 1,055 yards he had in his second season in 2021. He is the Bears’ clear-cut No. 1 receiver. Fields has been singing his praises since the spring. Even general manager Ryan Poles singled him out right before the season as an ascending young playmaker.
“Mooney is balling right now,” Poles said earlier this month. “I’m excited about him. That’s going to help Justin.”
Instead, the Bears’ struggles in getting their passing game unlocked have left Mooney in a slump and triggered an urgent quest for solutions.
Eberflus hinted Monday that the Bears need to become more assertive in sending the ball Mooney’s way.
“Let’s feed the guys who have skill, who can take a short throw and turn it into a big gain or who can go downtown,” he said. “And we have a good deep-ball thrower (in Fields), so we should utilize that too. We’re going to look at all aspects of that.”
That process already has begun.
On the bright side
No one on the field played with more passion and intensity than Bears running back David Montgomery, who turned 15 rushes into 122 yards, a determined bounce-back after he was limited to 26 yards on 17 carries in the season opener.
It was Montgomery’s eighth career 100-yard rushing output and included six runs for at least 10 yards. The longest was a 28-yard burst in the fourth quarter on which Montgomery followed a lead block from fullback Khari Blasingame, dodged a tackle attempt by safety Adrian Amos in the hole, bounced off linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and cut back past safety Darnell Savage into the open field. It was a masterpiece run on a big night.
Fellow running back Khalil Herbert added 38 rushing yards on four attempts, adding to the Bears average of 6.7 yards per rush.
“Luke said before the game that we were going to run it down their throat,” Fields said. “With D-Mo, I don’t know what he ate today, but he was running the ball crazy.”
In theory, that kind of ground-and-pound commitment should be a quarterback’s best friend, keeping defenses honest and presumably opening play-action opportunities.
On the Bears’ longest drive — the one that ended with Fields stuffed at the goal line on fourth down — the Bears ran the ball 11 times in 13 plays.
Until the final play of that series, you couldn’t argue much with the results. But even Eberflus has implied he would like to see much more pop from the passing attack.
“I just think you need balance,” he said.
Odds and ends
Eberflus was asked Monday where he sensed the Bears could have been more effective on their failed fourth-and-goal quarterback power run. “It’s just push,” he said. “Getting guys lower. Getting pad level down. It’s getting movement at the point of attack. But we like the play. … We just (needed) a little more push.” Perhaps as significant to the Bears’ correction efforts was the preceding play, a 5-yard Fields run that initially was ruled a 6-yard touchdown as Fields lunged for the pylon with the ball in his left hand. The ball hit the pylon and popped out, quickly scooped up by Savage. Replay reviews showed Fields’ knees were down with the ball about 8 to 10 inches outside the goal line. But in a blur, that play was a couple of inches from being either a Bears touchdown or a Packers takeaway. So as Eberflus continues to stress situational awareness, Fields’ gamble there is at least worth talking through at Halas Hall. “That’s always a risky proposition,” Eberflus said. “That was a third down. We always say, ‘Hey, if you’re going to go for the score, go for the score.’ But we’ve all seen the ones at the pylon that go off the wrong way and all of a sudden it’s the other team’s ball. So it’s a tricky element there.”
Mooney isn’t the only Bears playmaker feeling frustration after two games. Tight end Cole Kmet still is looking for his first catch and has been targeted only twice. The pass thrown to him Sunday came on a first-down out route, delivered on the numbers by Fields. Kmet, though, seemed to fight the ball too much and dropped it, leaving the Bears in second-and-long during their messy second quarter. When Eberflus stressed Monday the need for the Bears offense to “highlight our skill,” he was referring specifically to becoming more proactive in getting Kmet more involved. This week will test the Bears in that regard.
The Bears’ longest gain came on a gadget play, a first-quarter flea-flicker that freed St. Brown for a 30-yard reception. Mooney was Fields’ first read after the quarterback got the return pitch from Montgomery in the backfield. But Fields never really saw Mooney, who had a delayed release from the slot to the right, then burst behind Douglas up the seam. With clearer vision and perhaps a half-second more patience, Fields might have hit the home run. Instead, he progressed to St. Brown along the left sideline for a sure completion and a first down. The receiver added 14 yards after the catch, a big gain that aided the Bears’ touchdown march on their opening drive. That play came immediately after the Bears used a timeout when they couldn’t get a play call communicated properly on time. The quick change to a new concept on the sideline netted a big gain.
The Bears now have 153 passing yards for the season. Weather was a factor in Week 1 against the 49ers, with an unrelenting rain affecting the Soldier Field playing surface and limiting Fields’ ability to grip or throw the ball with any consistency. But on Sunday night, the conditions were gorgeous in Green Bay with a kickoff temperature of 73 degrees and a gentle breeze. Still, the Bears haven’t been able to get their passing game unlocked, with outsiders wondering if there is a lack of trust in that department. If so, how much of the Bears’ distrust of their passing game should be attributed to Fields’ deficiencies or the lack of reliable protection or the deficit in big-play talent in the receiving corps? It will be worth watching when the Bears unveil their game plan to face the Texans on Sunday at Soldier Field.
The Bears’ first-half offense through two weeks has been abysmal. The inventory: 11 possessions, 47 plays, 152 total yards, nine first downs, seven points. Fields’ first-half passing stats through two games: 8-for-15, 64 yards, no TDs, one interception, 36.5 passer rating.
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