Hub Arkush: There’s a new GM and coach in town, but all eyes remain on Justin Fields

On the first day of the Bears’ first minicamp under their brand new Ryan-and-Matt regime, one change could not have been more glaring.

Never has the cliché “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard” been so true.

Remember when Matt Nagy arrived, Ryan Pace already had been here building his roster for three full seasons.

Nagy inherited one of the best defenses in the NFL, and an offense that he was expected to get ready to win immediately.

Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus, on the other hand, have been given the leeway and extended honeymoon to rebuild from the ground up.

[ Bears minicamp update: Getting to know new coaches all about showing your personality ]

The 2022 Bears, as of this moment, will return only six starters on offense and only five defensive starters if you include Kindle Vildor. Another bundle of key backups are gone, and even the punter and top return men have been dumped.

But one thing does remain the same as last year.

Quarterback Justin Fields was the most important acquisition the club had made in decades, and the pressure to succeed quickly is immense.

As the Bears build an entire team this year around Fields and the hope he can be a franchise quarterback, the pressure on the new general manager, new coach and player is even greater for him to become the guy.

Fields said Tuesday his rookie year was a real roller coaster.

“A lot of ups and downs, but I definitely learned a lot, so [I’m] thankful for all the experiences and stuff we had to go through,” he said. “Last year was my rookie year, of course. Didn’t know if I was going to start or not, didn’t know if I was going to play, so my mindset right now is completely different than last year. The stuff last year is just going to make me better.”

One subject Fields isn’t eager to reminisce about is whether he felt he was put in the best position to succeed by Pace, Nagy and company.

Of course, the great worry when starting a rookie quarterback immediately is that you may do more harm than good putting a player out on the field who isn’t ready yet, particularly at the game’s most important position.

But in spite of the team’s historically bad offense and passing game last year, Fields feels there was some real benefit to the beating he took.

“A lot, I mean, you can’t even – there’s not one place you can start. I have a lot more knowledge now,” he said. “Going through a whole season, you learn a lot of things, and you start incorporating things in your routine to make you a better football player.”

And Fields believes it was some of the negatives that generated his most important growth.

“You can’t really do anything but deal with it and keep fighting, keep fighting for another day and keep working,” Fields said. “... I saw on a video the other day, just ‘failing until you succeed.’ No matter how many times I fail, I’m going to just keep going until I eventually succeed.”

As early as it is, Eberflus talked after practice Tuesday about how pleased he is with what he’s seen so far from Fields.

“He’s just soaking it in and taking command of the offense,” Eberflus said. “He’s done a great job with that so far. I thought he did an excellent job today. He was in command of the offense, really every play that I saw. He’s got a really good confidence in the room.”

Fields doesn’t really seem any different today than he was the last day of the 2021 season, just a bit more experienced with a lot less talent around him.

How much a new offense and new coaching staff can do to elevate him, and how much he can elevate the talent he does have around him will be this year’s most important test.

It’s one neither Poles, Eberflus nor Fields can afford for him to fail.