Chicago Bears: 4 biggest regrets from first half of season

1. The Chicago Bears should regret not using play action enough

Just from the fan’s naked eye this year, one can tell just how good Justin Fields has been on play action. Freezing the defense and allowing Fields to move a little bit is what’s gotten him more and more comfortable as the season has gone on. The problem is, the Bears offense refuses to use play action more often.

The Bears have run the fifth-lowest amount of play action passes this season at just 56.

Some of Fields’ best throws this season have come off of play action, including this recent beauty to Marquise Goodwin this past Monday night.

Matt Nagy and Bill Lazor can’t even argue that the Bears were without David Montgomery for a few games, because they’ve continued to run the ball well no matter who is in the back field. Both Khalil Herbert and Damien Williams have played great when given opportunities.

One has to wonder just how much better Fields’ season would be going had the Bears used play action more often. Right now, Fields leads the league in air yards per attempt. He loves taking shots downfield. If the Bears had been using play action more regularly, there’s no doubt this offense would have been able to muster up more points in a few of their games this season — especially against a Bucs defense that was down so many key defenders in that one, and the Bears scored just three points.