How is Justin Fields handling his best stretch with the Bears so far?

LAKE FOREST – When developing into an NFL quarterback, there are going to be some good and bad stretches.

Justin Fields is an example of that, as he’s seen his fair share of ups and downs in a year and a half in the NFL. But this last month has been a particularly good time for the quarterback.

In fact, it’s pretty easy to argue that this stretch is easily the best of his very young career in the NFL. That’s how it is for fans, who’ve rarely been more excited about the potential of a Bears’ starting quarterback than they have over the past thre weeks.

So how does Fields handle all of this positive attention he’s received, including the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week award?

“Just don’t let it affect me,” said Fields when asked how he’s handling the hype around him. “Just go about my day like I would before all of this hype came. Put my head down, keep working, and my main goal is to keep improving and keep getting better each and every day.”

That’s been happening for the last month as the Bears tailored their offense more towards the strengths of Fields during their long gap between the game against the Commanders on October 13th and the Monday night contest against the Patriots on October 24th.

The offense scored 33 points in a win over New England on that Monday night then got 29 in a loss to the Cowboys on October 30th. They scored 32 points in a loss to the Dolphins this past Sunday when Fields broke an NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a regular season game with 178 on 15 carries.

Here are Fields’ stats during that three-game stretch.

• 47-of-72 passing, 435 yards, 6 touchdowns, 2 interceptions
• 320 rushing yards on 37 carries (8.6 per rush), 3 touchdowns

It’s progress that many were hoping to see in Fields’ second season as he gets used to the system of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. He’ll have eight more games in 2022 to continue to grow on that, including Sunday’s game against the Lions at Soldier Field.

Many are hoping that Fields continues to have the same productivity or even more while keeping a steady amount of big plays coming. His 61-yard touchdown run against the Dolphins was a franchise-long for a quarterback.

But like everything else, Fields is staying level-headed in the best stretch of his career to date.

“Main thing is just not forcing big plays, letting them come to me,” said Fields when asked about the big plays. “Of course, I’ve always thought I’d be able to make the big play, but I think the one thing that you can’t do is force big plays and just kinda let them come to you.”

As of late, they have.