Chicago Bears Training Camp Practice No. 6 notes: Justin Fields and DJ Moore take another step with their chemistry

LAKE FOREST — Justin Fields connected with DJ Moore for a touchdown late in practice on Tuesday at Halas Hall.

If you have been following these Bears training camp updates, you would know that has happened a lot over the past week, but this touchdown could be foreshadowing for what is to come throughout the regular season.

During team drills, the Bears’ starting offense lined up inside the 20-yard line against the second-string defense. Fields got the snap and started by looking to his left. Fields stayed calm in the pocket, but he didn’t like his options with the route combination from Chase Claypool and Cole Kmet.

So, Fields bailed out to his right. Moore sat his route at the first-down marker, but as soon as he saw Fields escape the pocket, Moore adjusted. The veteran wide receiver found an open space in the front right corner of the end zone. Fields recognized that and rifled a pass while moving to his right for a touchdown.

The Fields-Moore connection has been spot on throughout camp, and that type of play highlights the chemistry that is continuing to grow between the two.

“Yeah, I thought he did a good job of going through his reads to start, so he went through his progression and then he felt the pocket break down and then he did his thing,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “And that’s what we’re talking about. During situations, which is that was a situation right? We’re in a two-minute end of half. We’re trying to score a touchdown, we’ll take a field goal, where he utilized that. And that was real, you know. Again, the D line likes to say they got him a couple times, but I’m back there, I can see. It was a real play and did a nice job of finding the open guy. So we got a chance to work our scramble drill there and find open people.”

There were plenty of other plays that stood out from the sixth training camp practice and the first day in pads.

1 on 1s

• I primarily watched the offensive line and defensive line during this portion of practice, but I did catch Darnell Mooney running a nice route against Kyler Gordon to win his 1-on-1 matchup. Justin Fields was the quarterback on the play.
• DeMarcus Walker threw off Kellen Diesch in one of his reps. Walker also did this to Braxton Jones on Saturday’s practice.
• Andrew Billings created decent pressure with his bull rush against Cody Whitehair.
• Walker won one of his reps against Braxton Jones.
• The offensive and defensive lines transitioned from 1 on 1s to five offensive linemen (and sometimes six) vs. four defensive linemen
• Gervon Dexter Sr. did a nice job of keeping his balance while Aviante Collins attempted to wash him out of the play during an outside zone look.

11 on 11s

• Terell Smith got the start with first-team defense in the low red zone drills.
• Lucas Patrick started at right guard with the first-team offense.
• The first play in 11 on 11s was a Justin Fields completion to DJ Moore. Jaylon Johnson was in coverage on the slant route, but Moore beat him to the spot and then outran most of the defense until Eddie Jackson got him around the 10-yard line.
• Kyler Gordon blew up a Chase Claypool jet sweep in the backfield. Darnell Mooney went in motion from right to left and Claypool got the handoff going towards the right side of the formation, but Gordon read the play and was in the backfield.
• Justin Fields would’ve been sacked by Justin Jones on third-and-goal. Fields tried to step up in the pocket, but Jones closed in on Fields while he was in the pocket.
• With the second-team offense, PJ Walker pitched the ball to Khalil Herbert, but Adrian Colbert and Elijah Hicks were immediately in the backfield and were there to wrap up Herbert.
• Walker attempted a pass to Jake Tonges in the back left of the end zone. Tonges caught the ball but was out of bounds on the play. Greg Stroman Jr. had the coverage on the play.
• Brisker had a nice pass breakup on DJ Moore. Moore ran a 7-yard hitch, in the end zone, but Brisker had good anticipation and broke up the pass in the end zone.
• Mooney went in motion from left to right and Fields tossed the ball to Mooney as he crossed the formation. Eddie Jackson gave a big hit to D’Onta Foreman, who was blocking on the play. Mooney put a nice spin move on Brisker to get into the end zone.
• On the next play, Fields stepped up once he felt the pressure from his right and found an open Chase Claypool for a touchdown in the front left of the end zone. Claypool was immediately greeted by Cole Kmet, who accidently brought Claypool to the ground after the play.

We'll work on the celebration 😅 pic.twitter.com/bcGO7Tb0sO

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 1, 2023

• In the low red zone period, the Bears did some heavy run packages. With no Khari Blasingame practicing, Robert Burns got an opportunity. He helped clear the way for a Herbert rushing touchdown
• The Bears practiced a situational period toward the end. The offense had 1:20 left on the clock and started at their own 30-yard line in a 10-10 game. The first-team offense went up against the second-team defense.
• Fields hit Kmet on back-to-back plays both on the left side of the field.
• Trevis Gipson got some good pressure after initially solid protection from Darnell Wright.
• Gipson then got Wright on an inside move and Eberflus immediately signaled in that direction. It looked like a hold from the rookie. Still, the play continued on and Fields attempted to hit Claypool down the left sideline, but there were three defenders in the area and the ball fell incomplete.
• On the next play, Fields connected with Tyler Scott for a deep play down the middle of the field (at least 45 yards). Scott ran a nice post pattern and beat Stroman on the play.
• BUT Gipson beat Wright and turned the corner. Looked like Wright held Gipson on the play. Gipson would’ve delivered a hit on Fields if it were an actual game.

7 on 7s

• Fields completed a pass to Claypool for a completion over the middle of the field. The ball was slightly behind Claypool but he showed good concentration and reliable hands to make the catch.
• Jackson intercepted Fields in the left corner of the end zone. Fields tried to fit a ball to Mooney, but Terell Smith got a hand on the football and Jackson capitalized and ran towards the opposite end zone.
• Somehow Fields fit a ball to Tonges for a touchdown. Several defenders were in the area, but Fields zipped the pass in while moving to his left.
• Walker completely missed Equanimeous St. Brown in the middle of the end zone. The pass may have slipped out of Walker’s hands because it wasn’t close at all to hitting the target.
• Herbert ran a nice arrow route against Tremaine Edmunds that went for a touchdown