Measured Improvement for Justin Fields

Bears QB fails to hit numbers coach Matt Eberflus set as goals but has made strides toward all of them, which makes for a more difficult call on the future.

Justin Fields is coming up short of the weekly numbers the Bears want to see from him and the offense is doing the same with its goals.

The impact on the future of this isn't being discussed, but coach Matt Eberflus doesn't seem perturbed by it.

Before Fields returned from his dislocated thumb, Eberflus gave him a sheet with numbers on it.

They were what Eberflus hoped to see from him on a weekly basis numbers-wises.

"He gave me a thing that said: '2 0 0,' " Fields said. "Which is two touchdowns, no sacks, no turnovers. That's pretty much my goal every game.

"Sacks, they put us behind the sticks of course, and you never want to turn the ball over to give the other team a short field. So definitely trying to avoid the turnovers and sacks."

In the five games since returning, Fields hasn't hit the two-TD total at all. He threw an interception in the end zone last week against Arizona and against Cleveland had two picks, although both came on Hail Mary's and the first one was obviously picked up off the ground without being reviewed. And although Fields' sack rate has come down dramatically from 4.0 the first six starts to 2.0 the last five starts, he hasn't had a game without a sack.

Yet, Eberflus isn't complaining. Apparently they were more like guidelines than an actual quarterback code.

"We're looking to have our eyes forward and get better every single year, but with him it's just about being consistent, about the good things he has done," Eberflus said. "What has he done the last five or six games is, the sack total has been cut in half. That's been really good.

"Interceptions are down. He has one. If you take out the two end-of-half, end-of-game interceptions that he had in Cleveland. So that's really good, too. And then him being able to evade the rush and look down the field to create some momentum plays going forward. His rhythm and timing is improving, too. So those are the tangible numbers we can look at. Just more consistency that way."

The touchdowns are not up enough, though. He has four in the five games. And Fields isn't happy with this, either. He's not happy with the offensive production as a whole, even though they had 27 points last week and their goal is 28.

"Nah because I feel like we could have scored more if I would have threw a better ball to Khalil (Herbert) on that pick," Fields said. "I mean that was a potential touchdown there.

"Twenty-one points in the first half, you've got to score more than six points in the whole second half so we left more out there. So just cleaning up those details and focusing on sustaining that hot start throughout the whole game."

In a broad sense, Eberflus sees progress. He talked with Fields about the outside discussion swirling about the future and outlined how to get beyond it.

"I talked to him in a general sense and just in terms of the position, of being an NFL quarterback, you're always going to get that," Eberflus said. "So you got to keep your eyes forward and your feet where they are.

"That's the most important thing. You got to focus on the here and now and improving every single day. When you do that, you're going to get better and you're going to be able to stay locked in on your job. He does that at a great rate every single week. I commend him for that. You got to be strong to do that, certainly during times of adversity. He stands on solid ground. He stands on his work ethic and the man that he is. He does that. He keeps his eyes forward and his feet where they are supposed to be."

Is it all enough to cause Ryan Poles to ignore USC's Caleb Williams in the draft if the Bears eventually own the first pick?

Fields isn't speculating on any of that and neither is Eberflus.

"Not really," Fields said. "I'm focused on Sunday and playing this Atlanta team. They have a good defense. They've been playing well on defense and shoot, they're a good team.

"So we have a challenge up ahead of us and everybody is going to be prepared for that."

He's too busy for such talk.

"I mean, I've got too much to focus on today to worry about tomorrow," Fields said. "I've got to worry about this new game plan I've got, the play calls and like I always say we don't know if we're going to get it tomorrow.

"So there's no point in stressing about tomorrow if we don't know it's going to be here yet."

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven