LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears’ first-team offense got two chances at a two-minute drill — down 26-20, 1:20 on the clock and the ball on the 20 — in the first padded practice of training camp on Tuesday.
They went three-and-out both times. Quarterback Justin Fields completed one pass — a flip to running back Khalil Herbert as Fields got flushed from the pocket.
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Six plays, one completion.
And lots of scrambling.
Fields overthrew wide receiver Darnell Mooney on a deep ball with safety Eddie Jackson in coverage. He attempted to connect with tight end Cole Kmet down the seam, but the throw hit linebacker Nicholas Morrow in the back. On two other plays, Fields was evading pressure and forced to scramble.
It is worth noting who Fields operated behind. From left to right, Braxton Jones, Lachavious Simmons (Cody Whitehair got a breather during the two-minute drill), Sam Mustipher, Michael Schofield and Larry Borom made up the offensive line for the first series, and Doug Kramer and Ja’Tyre Carter replaced Mustipher and Schofield at right guard and tackle, respectively, for the second.
The offense also struggled in the seven-on-seven drill before the hurry-up, where Fields’ incompletions more than doubled the passes that were caught. Everything felt late. Receivers came open, but the passes weren’t thrown. Sometimes they were wide open. Receiver N’Keal Harry was left uncovered in the end zone because of broken coverage, but Fields overthrew him out of the corner of the end zone.
The goal-line drill had an inauspicious start — a fumbled snap and then a false start — but then the offense got into a rhythm. With the pads on, the offensive line was able to help running backs David Montgomery and Herbert score touchdowns. Fields threw touchdown passes to Mooney and the tight ends, and we saw some creative play designs to help get them open.
That was probably the high point for the offense, but once again, the story was the defense being ahead. That’s not abnormal for training camp, but we’re still waiting for Fields and the passing game to show some consistency.
“Yeah, we ain’t lost a day yet, if you ask me,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said.
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Keeping perspective
Fishbain: No. 2 quarterback Trevor Siemian rightly noted that Tuesday was the first practice in pads, and you can’t really know what an offense might be until after the first regular-season game. I think we can be nuanced with it — the two-minute drill was ugly. Whether it’s Day 1 in pads or Day 12, your offense should be better. But it is Day 1. Or are we seeing what we should have expected considering the personnel?
Jahns: I get what Siemian is saying, but the other pad-free days should still count in some capacity. The Bears offense didn’t look good in its two-minute situation on Monday, either. What’s the cliche? It’s about stacking good days. For now, all you have are the occasional good plays from Fields and the offense.
Fishbain: We’re six practices in and we’re still writing about waiting for the offense to stack good days. Heck, how about stacking some good drives? I think we’ve seen some success from them in the short red zone — tight ends are getting open, Fields has been accurate — but there haven’t been consistent chunk plays. The constant shuffling of an offensive line that is already well below average can’t help, and we’re also not seeing a wide receiver step up and be a playmaker.
Jahns: I think we’re also seeing that the secondary has the edge in talent with Jackson and Jaquan Brisker at safety and Johnson and Kyler Gordon at cornerback. When Gordon slides inside to nickel, Kindle Vildor also is holding his own against Equanimeous St. Brown, Harry and others right now at cornerback. I don’t want to make this sound like we’re piling on the offense and the Fields. I don’t think we’re doing that. We’re just relaying what we’re seeing. But the good plays aren’t piling up for the offense, either. It’s becoming the story of camp, and only Fields can change that, too.
Quick hits
• Offensive tackle Teven Jenkins missed his sixth consecutive practice. Undrafted rookie linebacker Christian Albright, who left Monday’s practice with an injury, was also absent. Defensive tackle Angelo Blackson and tight end Chase Allen remained observers from the sideline.
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• The best offensive play was Fields’ touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Griffin in the red zone. The design of it, including how Fields handled the fake and operation, resulted in Griffin getting Brisker for a wide-open score.
• Griffin had the catch of the day early in practice, with a one-handed grab over Brisker during the one-on-one drills.
• Another highlight for the offense came early in practice. With good protection, Fields hit receiver Byron Pringle in stride over the middle of a big gain. Gordon was in coverage.
• Vildor got plenty of praise from coaches after an interception in a one-on-one at the start of practice. In team drills, he showed good awareness to knock down a pass from Fields to St. Brown in the middle of the field.
• Brisker notched a win for the defense when he broke up a jump ball to Kmet down the left sideline. Linebacker Matthew Adams did the same, making a similar play against Kmet just inside the end zone. Adams batted Fields’ jump ball from Kmet’s grasp, though the pass looked short.
• The Bears activated defensive back Dane Cruikshank, wide receiver Tajae Sharpe and defensive back Michael Joseph off the non-football injury list.
In the trenches
The padded practice means we can get some better evaluations from the pass-rush drills between the defensive linemen and the offensive linemen. Here are a few observations from those reps:
• Defensive end Trevis Gipson beat offensive tackle Larry Borom with a quick inside move, faking outside and bursting through the gap between tackle and guard.
• On the next rep, though, Borom did a nice job mirroring defensive end Charles Snowden, staying light on his feet as he didn’t let Snowden get past.
• This might be a daily note, but rookie defensive end Dominique Robinson’s burst off the edge is very evident.
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• Undrafted rookie defensive end Carson Taylor got some love from his teammates after winning his rep with a spin move.
• Defensive lineman Sam Kamara, recently activated off the physically unable to perform list, flashed a couple of times, once with a bull rush and then again with speed off the edge.
Jonesing to start
Fifth-round rookie Braxton Jones took all the reps at left tackle on Tuesday. Veteran Riley Reiff, who has spent most of his NFL career on the left side, was rotating with Borom at right tackle.
The Bears could be trying to determine what’s a better combination, Reiff on the right and Jones on the left, or Borom on the right and Reiff on the left.
As a draft pick of this regime, Jones is getting the reps in camp to prove he can be the left tackle of the future, but he’s not letting that change the way he approaches each day.
“Just because I’m running with the ones doesn’t mean anything changes,” Jones said. “That might change up who’s in front of me or whatever. But that doesn’t matter. For me, it’s still the same. I go full speed. I’m trying to work on my tight hands. I’m trying to get better every day. … Obviously it’s a bigger role in the sense of like the ones. But for me it’s just the same things.”
Jones said he wants to use the padded practices to improve his anchor when facing a bull rush, but his biggest emphasis is keeping his hands tight.
“Really focusing on those tight hands. I’ve got to get better at that,” he said. “Once I get that down, and nobody’s seen me do it consistently, but once I get that done consistently, I think it will be a big jump.”
Quinn ramping up
Robert Quinn’s participation in team drills continued to play sparingly in team drills. It’s all part of the Bears’ “ramp-up” plan Bears for him.
He’s trying to make the most of the snaps that he does get.
“They’re going to take a little load off the body, so when it’s time to go, you really got to push yourself out there so you can get into the best shape as possible,” Quinn said.
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Staying healthy for the season opener supersedes everything, of course. Quinn repeated that message several times. He also said that he feels caught up after sitting out organized team activities and veteran minicamp.
“When they call a play, I know what I’m supposed to do and kind of anticipate the checks and stuff like that,” he said.
The scheme isn’t new to Quinn. He played for Rod Marinelli, Eberflus’ mentor, in Dallas in 2019. He led the Cowboys with 11 1/2 sacks that season. The bulk of his career also has been in a 4-3 defense.
“This is kind of like back at home for me,” Quinn said.
Johnson’s study habits
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson will watch routes on social media. He studies them, as he said, “over and over and over and over and over and over,” so that way he can be ready if he ever faces it.
“You guys have seen that Stefon Diggs route that they posted saying he’s a good route runner?” he said. “I replayed that about 10-15 times. We might see it, we might not see it. But I know I imagine myself covering routes and different things like that.”
This route by Stefon Diggs was just ridiculous 🔥 pic.twitter.com/50LzH39Jwu
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 26, 2021
Johnson is having a good start to training camp, along with much of the defensive backs room. He’s always prided himself on taking on the challenges of the league’s top receivers, and he described his film study to prepare himself for those matchups.
“Eventually, everybody has a tendency, everybody has their go-to move, everybody has their go-to release,” Johnson said. “So it’s really just seeing it and replaying it over and over and over. Then, I get to the point where I have my mental imagery and I’ll just go throughout my house, eyes closed, working and seeing the movements and getting the timing down and imagining myself in front of them. And then, when I get there, it’s everything in my head that I’ve already (gone) against. In my head, I’ve (gone) against those guys thousands of times within my own imagination.”
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Montgomery on … kickoff return?
Running back David Montgomery has embraced the potential of playing on special teams this season.
“Funny thing about David the other day, he was taking a couple reps on the special teams and his reps were over and he said, ‘Hey, can I get on the scout team since my reps are over? Can I get on the scout team and give these guys a look?’” special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. “That just speaks to (GM) Ryan Poles and (coach) Matt Eberflus about the culture that these guys are creating.”
But it probably says more about Montgomery, who remains the Bears’ lead back but also is in the final year of his contract. The special teams work is new for him. He has to learn it. Montgomery said it was as simple as seeing his name on the depth chart and going to the special teams drills.
“Wherever they need me, I’m going to be ready to be there,” he said. “I’ve never played special teams before. But I’m always down and excited to learn so I can be better.”
(Top photo of David Montgomery: David Banks / USA Today)