Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy wasn't surprised that Justin Fields had his best NFL game as a passer last Sunday against the Broncos.
The third-year pro established career highs with 335 yards, four touchdowns and a 132.7 passer rating in a 31-28 loss at Soldier Field. Fields set a Bears record by completing 16 straight passes and was 23 of 24 through three quarters, with his only incompletion coming on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
"He's been locked in," Getsy told reporters Tuesday at Halas Hall. "I told you guys each week I feel like his comfort level in what we're doing, knowing what his assignments are, knowing what's going on around him, is much improved. He was able to put that all together much better this week, for sure."
One sign of growth Fields displayed was his ability to extend plays before throwing touchdown passes of 3 yards to Cole Kmet and 2 yards to Khalil Herbert.
On the first one, Fields rolled nearly all the way to the right sideline before flipping the ball to Kmet, who had found an open spot in the end zone. On the second, Fields hit Herbert over the middle after buying time in the pocket.
"The Khalil one was pretty special," Getsy said. "Just like mostly everybody is playing us, protecting the edges of the defense, and he did a great job of playing up, reacting to it and then creating space and time.
"You get in those low gold zone areas and that's what we talk about all the time: QBs extending plays. I would imagine half the scores in the league come from that. Him able to do that, create some extra time, get some space, get the defense running a little bit, that was a really cool play to see.
"And then the Cole one … we talk about small growth every single week. That's a good example of [Fields] playing the play to the end, trying to run to the pylon and then making sure he is keeping the pass/run option available until the last second."
With Fields' breakout performance and a running game that generated 171 yards—led by Herbert's 103 yards on 18 carries—the Bears amassed 471 total yards and 26 first downs and converted 6 of 12 third-down opportunities (50.0%).
"I think the offense was more honed in on our details and really trying to execute each and every play, take one play at a time," Fields said. "We were good situationally. Gold zone, we executed well, and I think that's a plus that we've got to keep on going. So just keep that going if something's there; if not, just throw it away and move onto the next play."
The infusion of confidence figures to provide a boost as the Bears face a quick turnaround with their next game Thursday night against the Commanders in Washington.
"I do think we took a step closer in finding our identity as an offense," Fields said. "That's always a positive. But we just have to keep working hard and keep getting better each and every day. This week's a short week so [we've] really got to lock in mentally because we don't have the same amount of days we [normally] do to lock in on the game plan. So guys have got to be locked in mentally."
