What will the Justin Fields - Bill Lazor offense look like?

With Justin Fields being named the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears, I wanted to get something up here on WCG to show the type of stuff we should start to see from him and the offense moving forward. We had a sneak peek of it on Sunday against the Lions, and also with what we saw towards the end of last season, but there’s no question Chicago’s offense is in a much better place right now with Fields tabbed as the present and future QB1 and Bill Lazor back as the primary play caller.

Lazor had the Bears offense clicking last year, albeit against some lesser defenses, but there was still a noticeable flow and tempo to the games that Lazor called as opposed to the games called by head coach Matt Nagy. Lazor wasn’t just pulling plays out of a hat, which is what it felt like with Nagy sometimes, and Lazor’s games felt like the offense had an identity.

He understands how to use the run game to open the offense up, which makes thing easier on his quarterback, so expect more of the same with a rookie under center.

For whatever reason, Nagy hasn’t shown much of a rhythm as a play caller since the 2018 season, so with him able to focus on the big picture we should see the best Bears team possible. “During the game (on Sunday against the Lions), it was the most connected I’ve felt to all three phases,” Nagy said at his press conference yesterday. “It felt good.”

So what will the Fields/Lazor offense look like? I was on the same wavelength as our guy Jacob Infante, so I jacked his bullet points from this Tweet for my article.

• More effective RPOs, opportunity for read options

Run pass options are something Lazor did with Andy Dalton and the Bengals, and it’s something Fields did at Ohio State. Fields is a heady QB, so putting the read in his hands is a way to ensure the right call is made based on the look from the defense. The conflict defender steps up, then fire a dart to the receiver in the vacated space, but if the conflict defender stays back, then hand it off to the running back.

These require a split second decision from the quarterback, because if he he keeps it and the window to pass is closed, then his offensive line (who are all run blocking) could illegally get downfield if he throws late.

We’ve yet to see Fields keep on the read option, which is something he’ll need to improve upon, but his speed makes this a no-brainer to mix in from time to time.

• More deep shots

This is huge for the Bears offense, because explosive plays directly correlates to winning games in the NFL, and Fields is an accurate deep passer. Lazor will dial up some deep routes, but he’ll do it while making sure his quarterback is protected.

• More designed roll outs

While Fields has incredible athleticism, he also has the make up of pocket passer, so don’t expect to see the Bears abandon the drop back game entirely. But with that being said, we’ll never see him sitting in the pocket like he did in the Browns game. Expect to see Lazor sprinkle in some of the bootleg offense the Bears did last year with Mitch Trubisky, as it’s also something he did at Ohio State.

Lazor will want to vary the aim point of edge rushers, and by getting Fields out of the pocket he’ll do just that, but that also leads into the next point.

• Defenses having to respect Fields’ ability to run the ball

The threat of Fields and his 4.4 speed taking off will keep defenses honest when he rolls out, but also on scrambles where he looks to run for the first down...

And also on plays where he’s scrambling around with his eyes downfield to make a play with his arm.

I would expect plenty of scramble drills at Halas Hall to get the receivers used to Fields’ ability to keep the play alive.

• More growing pains for the offense, but that’s okay

“You just have to understand that there’s going to be mistakes made,” Fields said at his press conference on Wednesday. “You just have to learn from those mistakes and try not to make those mistakes twice. So, every snap I get, I’m going to see what I could have done better.”

Fields is going to struggle, all rookie quarterback do, but the thing that will set Fields apart form other young signal callers is his ability to bounce back and learn from adversity.

We already saw him shake off the 9 sacks from week three and help the Bears to a win last Sunday, and watching him grow and learn for the 2021 season is bigger than wins and losses this year.

In case you missed it last night, be sure to check out Robert Schmitz’s film breakdown of the Bears vs Lions game that he did on his Run Pass Opinion YouTube Channel.

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