The Chicago Bears have had trouble on offense, and now the fans are having trouble deciding who to blame. To be honest, it is probably fair to say that the supporting cast, quarterback and play caller all get some blame, but every fan will have their favorite to rip.
While the play calling has not been perfect, one thing fans will have to agree on is that it is has been better than last season.
Chicago Bears are trying to help Justin Fields
Screenplays and play-action passes are two of the easiest ways to get a quarterback some easy looks in the passing game. These are like free throws and layups to get a few quick points before you launch a three.
Last season the Chicago Bears offense was not giving Justin Fields anything easy. They ran play-action and screen pass on 30% of his dropbacks. This season that number is up to 45%,
They are running play-action 4.9% more often, and the screen passes 10.2% more often. Still, while this is a nice increase for both, you think that the team could run a bit more play-action, to supplement some of the screens.
Justin Fields has an 84% completion rate on screens, so these are key to getting him easy passes in rhythm. However, he is averaging just 6.5 yards per attempt on these passes. This is understandable as they are mostly starting from behind the line of scrimmage.
Still, while Fields is only completing 57% of his play-action passes, he is averaging 9.6 yards per attempt on play-action. That is up from 6.7 on non-play action passes.
Right now Justin Fields is fourth in the percent of passes that are screens, and 12th in the percent of passes that are play action. The top five are all up over 35% on their play-action rank.
They are Marcus Mariota, Tua Tagovailoa, Daniel Jones, Jalen Hurts, and Lamar Jackson. All five are having some of their best years passing, mainly because of the aid of play-action.
The Chicago Bears have turned into a dynamic team running the football. This should make play action even easier to run, and it should push them up with those other teams. Justin Fields could run 10% more play-action and just crack the top five, which is probably where he should be.
So, the Chicago Bears are making life easier on Fields, especially compared to last season. However, they should also realize that play action is working, the run game is working, and they should be able to thrive in this area even more.
If it means taking a few screens away and turning them into PA passes, that could be helping to make the Chicago Bears more explosive.