The mission of the past six months for the Chicago Bears is to determine if Justin Fields is a franchise quarterback. Trading the No. 1 overall pick for a bevy of picks and DJ Moore from the Carolina Panthers, drafting Darnell Wright, signing Nate Davis, and reshaping the entire running back room outside Khalil Herbert to make sure that Fields has the opportunity to become the first true franchise QB in Bears history.
From all indications from media and people inside the Bears organization, Fields is taking that leap that all Bears fans were hoping for, and it's coming from different areas of his game. His intermediate to short passing, throwing passes into tight coverage, and continuing to grow as a leader to have command of the offense.
Davis said it himself to the media during this mini-camp period.
"(He's) definitely a leader in the huddle and (he's) someone you want to play for, someone you want to block for, someone you want to see do great things on the field," Davis said. "I've been around Ryan Tannehill, who's another excellent vet (and) to see (Fields) very comparable to that and to get out into the huddle and just say this is what we got to do and does it, it relaxes everybody else."
Davis is heading into his fifth season in the NFL, and for him to see that in Fields, who is only 24 years old and entering his third season, speaks volumes about how much Fields has been able to grow as a leader.
Head coach Matt Eberflus recognized that because Fields is coming into his own, it's allowing him to become an even better leader.
"I just see leadership,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus told Chris Emma of 670 the Score. “He’s always the hardest worker. He’s always the first guy out, last to leave. He’s always done that. But now I can see (leadership) because his confidence is growing."
While that is invaluable to be that type of leader at the quarterback position, it doesn't mean anything unless you can play well on the field. Everyone raved about Mitch Trubisky's leadership while he was in Chicago. Fields has also grown as a passer from everything I have read and seen.
Just on the final day of mini-camps with the team working in the red zone, here were Fields' stats during that period:
There were a lot of intermediate throws today, including an absolute dime to new tight end Robert Tonyan. Here was the play described by NBC Sports Chicago's Josh Schrock:
"Fields saw the defense was in shell coverage and ripped a dart to tight end Robert Tonyan in the back corner. Fields fit the ball into a tight window between cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and safety Eddie Jackson, and Tonyan made a slick one-handed catch for the score."
This also just hasn't been a one-day thing for Fields, as on day two of camp, Fields found DJ Moore on a deep pass between Jaylon Johnson and Elijah Hicks during the two-minute drill.
While it hasn't been pretty the entire time for this three-day mini-camp, the strides Fields is making as a passer have been nothing short of amazing. The fact that he has developed a seemingly great connection with Moore is an incredible sight to see. Over the past several years, we have seen teams with young QBs go out and get a No. 1 receiver to propel their signal caller to new heights.
Josh Allen getting Stefon Diggs in Buffalo, Jalen Hurts getting AJ Brown in Philadelphia, and even Patrick Mahomes already having had Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as weapons in Kansas City. If you can have good-to-elite weapons around your young QB, they can genuinely do some fantastic things, and with the dual-threat ability of Fields, I can see the same thing happening.
Fields will still have to prove it once the regular season rolls around, but the early indication is that Chicago has their guy.