If the Bears’ final preseason game was a final exam of sorts for Justin Fields, then his touchdown throw to Jesper Horsted to cap an impressive two-minute drill was the answer that ensured he made an “A” grade. It was an accurate pass, in an incredibly tight window, that Fields made on the run, to put his team up four heading into halftime.
But when Fields talked about that play it almost seemed old hat to him.
“Once you just rep it through practice, I mean it just comes with repetition,” Fields said. “Throwing on the run, (individual) drills, stuff like that. Of course, me being a mobile quarterback, I have to be able to make throws like that when I’m a threat to the defense, run or pass.
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“In that particular play, in that situation, you want to put the ball where your receiver can get it, or it’s going to be an incomplete pass. So I think those are the things you need to look at when deciphering whether to just tuck it and run, or throw the ball away.”
Of course Fields neither ran with the ball, nor threw it away. Instead he put it in a perfect place for Horsted to make a play for the touchdown. Horsted’s fantastic catch on the receiving end to complete the catch shouldn’t be diminished, but when speaking after the game he gave all the props to Fields for the throw.
“That was just kind of an example of the power of Justin Fields,” Horsted said. “He’s great at extending the play. That wasn’t necessarily the play, but I saw him rolling out to the right, pushed my man up the sideline like we’re kinda supposed to, then saw a ball coming my way. I also saw one of my teammates cross in front of me, so I’m not sure if the ball was supposed to go to him or me, but I didn’t stop to ask that question. I just took the ball.
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“It was a great ball. Just enough space that I could get both feet and go out of bounds, but no defender could have gotten that ball.”
Fields clarified later that Horsted didn’t take anyone else’s target or touchdown. That ball was meant for him.
“For sure my man Jesper. For sure.”
While Horsted wasn’t sure whether or not the ball was meant for him, other players on the field weren’t sure how the two connected for the touchdown in the first place.
“When you see him roll outside the pocket and you see Jesper make the catch in the corner, I was kinda like, ‘How did that happen?’” Sam Mustipher said. “But then you watch it on the replay and go, ‘Wow, that’s pretty impressive.’ Very impressive, that’s a big-time throw.”