Getty Quarterback Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears throws a pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Justin Fields has been spending part of his bye week working out with former Chicago Bears All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Marshall.
Marshall played for the Bears from 2012-14, earning first-team All-Pro honors in 2012 and making the Pro Bowl two out of his three seasons in the Windy City. The former wideout’s 1,508 yards his first season in Chicago set the team’s single-season mark — a record he still holds.
Fields’ friend, photographer Simeon Kelly, shared some video of the rookie QB and Marshall hanging out in a gym on Instagram, and while Insta stories disappear within a 24-hour period, analyst Scott Lewis of the 79th & Halas podcast captured some of the video and shared it via Twitter:
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Fields Looking to Get His ‘Body Back Right’ Over Bye Week
It’s unclear how long Fields has been or will be working out with Marshall, although analyst Daniel Greenberg noted Marshall has a training facility in Florida, and said Fields has been there for some time this week after Chicago’s Monday Night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Fields said a bit of rest was on the agenda over the team’s bye week, with the primary focus centered on getting himself ready for the second half of the season. “Definitely getting away a little bit and then also just trying to get my body back right and just get it back to 100 percent,” the rookie signal-caller said on November 9.
Marshall is an intriguing workout partner for Fields, who is coming off the best game of his young career. The rookie QB threw for a career-high 291 yards against the Steelers, and now, he’s spending time with Jay Cutler’s favorite former target.
Fields also noted heading into the break that his confidence is growing by the week, and his teammates are responding to that. “After the game Cole [Kmet] came up to me and said, ‘we’re almost there. We’ve just got to keep working.’ Just seeing that, seeing the explosive plays, seeing our drives get put together, it just gives our offense more confidence and just pushes us to work harder because we know we’re on the brink of being a great offense, so we’re just going to keep working,” Fields said after the loss to Pittsburgh.
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Fields Getting More Aggressive, Assertive in His Decision-Making
“The last two weeks his decision-making and timing has been really really good,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy said about Fields on November 9.
“And then he’s taking shots downfield, which is great,” Nagy added. “We’re not hitting on all of them, but when you still take those downfield they can’t sit on you all the time. But then you get to these moments, these critical parts of the game that you’ve seen in back to back weeks now that he’s making plays. I think what you’re seeing and feeling is a guy who’s getting more and more confident, not just by every game but by every play.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Fields looks after the bye. The rookie has been hit or miss on long balls all year, and if he can clean his TD-INT ratio up (he has four TDs and eight picks), that’ll be a good sign moving forward.
For what it’s worth…since week four, Justin Fields leads the NFL with 11(!) “big time throws” 20+ yards down the field.
That is tied with Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow. The one thing Justin still has to clean up is the picks. On deep throws he had 1 TD/4 INT in that time period.
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