From the day he arrived at Halas Hall, he has rarely wavered from his low-key baseline.
Within that steadiness, though, coach Matt Nagy discerned increasing assertiveness as Fields fully took hold of his role as the Bears’ starter.
He has seen Fields’ confidence rising since he took over for Andy Dalton in Week 3, and there’s been vast improvement from his debacle of a debut in Cleveland to the way he’s handling things heading into the game at the Steelers on Monday.
“His demeanor in the meetings is probably where you sense a lot of the growth,” Nagy said.
All that development behind the scenes, as well as what he showed while throwing for 175 yards and running for 103 last week, would’ve been delayed a year if the Bears had stuck with Dalton as they originally planned.
Had he done that, he likely would’ve avoided the five-turnover nightmare Fields endured against the Bucs.
There’s no way to fast-forward through all the mistakes Fields is sure to make — and learn from — as he learns how to play in the NFL.
Fields’ position coach, John DeFilippo, is comfortable with his path being choppy, though preferably he’ll never bottom out again like he did against the Bucs.
As he plays well and stirs excitement by what he does in games, he expands his credibility with teammates.
Nagy noted that Fields has no hesitation to hold veteran teammates accountable if something isn’t done right or to instruct them to change the way they run a certain play so that it fits better with how he sees the field.
“He doesn’t care who you are or how many years you’ve been in this league,” Nagy said.