Chicago Bears-Indianapolis Colts Joint Practice Night 1 Notes: Justin Fields shows off the deep ball

WESTFIELD, Ind. — Justin Fields showed off his downfield accuracy against the Colts on Wednesday night.

Fields launched a pass deep down the left sideline during situational team drills at the end practice. Velus Jones Jr. started to separation from the Colts’ defensive back. Jones looked over his shoulder and the ball was right where it needed to be, and the second-year wide receiver completed the play by making a sliding catch.

Fields ended up on the ground after the throw. Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo was near Fields and Teven Jenkins and Odeyingbo had a few words for each other. Bears and Colts from both sidelines met each other in the middle of the field before coaches started to separate the two teams.

The energy was resonating all over Grand Park for the first of two joint practices between the Bears and Colts.

For Wednesday’s practice, Will DeWitt and I focused on the Bears’ offense. Here are my observations from the first joint practice.

1 on 1s

• Kenny Moore won his first rep against DJ Moore. Kenny played tight coverage on DJ, and Fields had nowhere to go with the ball.
• Darnell Mooney won his rep against Tony Brown.
• Dante Pettis got open against Chris Lammons. Nathan Peterman was the quarterback on the rep.
• Daurice Fountain won his rep against JuJu Brents. Fields dropped a dime to Fountain on a vertical route. The Colts’ defensive back didn’t even look back for the football. Fields had perfect ball placement on the throw.
• Nsimba Webster beat Teez Tabor on a stutter stop vertical route. Fields connected with his receiver on the throw.
• DJ Moore created separation on Kenny Moore on a slant route. Fields hit his No. 1 receiver on the throw.
• Mooney won his one-on-one rep against Tony Brown on a deep ball. Fields had great ball placement.

11 on 11s

• Khalil got things going by picking up some yards on a toss play to the right.
• Fields completed a pass to DJ Moore on the right side of the field.
• Fields tried to go back to DJ Moore again, but the pass sailed out of bounds. Kenny Moore had the coverage on the rep.
• Nate Davis got some reps with the first team. It has been a while since Davis has been available to participate in team drills, so today was a step forward for him.
• P.J. Walker was nearly intercepted by linebacker Liam Anderson over the middle of the field. Anderson had one of his hands wrapped up, and he put his hand in the air to show why he couldn’t finish the play.

• During the second attempt in team drills, Khalil Herbert had a nice run up the middle of the field for a good gain.
• Fields also connected with Kmet on the left side of the field.
• Fields threw a pass high that was intended for Kmet. The ball went off the tight end’s hands and was intercepted.

• In the third portions of 11 on 11s, D’Onta Foreman had a couple of runs, including what would’ve been an explosive play in the middle of the field.
• On third-and-4, Fields hit Mooney on a wide screen for a first down. Good blocking on the play.
• Fields was intercepted on a deep pass intended for Mooney. Fields was contacted on the throw and ended up on the ground.

• In the final 25 minutes of practice, the Bears did situational team drills. Defensive end Kwity Paye was credited with a sack on Fields. Looked like Paye beat Braxton Jones on the play.
• Fields hit DJ Moore for a big gain over the middle of the field. Really nice protection on the play. Then Fields connected with Velus Jones Jr. in the middle of the field for a good gain. After this connection with Jones, Fields made the play that I highlighted at the top of the article.
• Walker had some nice throws during this portion of practice. Walker found Pettis for a decent gain. Then while Walker was on the move to his right, he hit Isaiah Ford. Foreman had a big run down the left side of the field.
• The second-team offense’s drive ended with a Walker to Robert Tonyan touchdown in the middle of the end zone on a back shoulder throw. Defensive tackle McTelvin Agim picked up the ball and tossed it back at Tonyan. The Bears’ tight end got up and bumped into Agim. Then Agim shoved Tonyan and both sidelines slowly began to approach each other, but the situation eventually calmed down.

7 on 7s

• Coach Matt Eberflus has said in the past that the goal in 7 on 7s is to not let the ball hit the ground. In Fields’ first attempt in 7 on 7s, the did just that. Fields connected with Equanimeous St. Brown, Darnell Mooney, Robert Tonyan, Dante Pettis, Brown and Cole Kmet — who was able to convert on the right side on third-and-4.
• Walker’s first pass in the 7-on-7 period was intercepted by safety Nick Cross. Walker then had three incompletions, including a deep ball that was overshot by five yards to Joe Reed.
• Tyson Bagent had a nice completion to Fountain on a deep throw over the middle of the field.

Other Observations

• Chase Claypool, Tremaine Edmunds, Lucas Patrick, Jaquan Brisker and Josh Blackwell didn’t practice. Also, I didn’t see Tyler Scott on the field today.

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