LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- While Monday wasn't a great day for Bears quarterback Justin Fields and the offense, there is still a palpable buzz around Halas Hall about the unit's potential in 2023.
Fields was sharp during the first week of camp, showing a quicker release and improved rhythm and timing. But the third-year quarterback's expected growth is only half of the reason for excitement around an offense that many believe is set up for a big season this fall.
The other half of that equation? Fields' new favorite target, wide receiver DJ Moore.
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Fields and Moore developed quick chemistry this offseason, and that connection has opened everyone's eyes at Halas Hall.
"One and two," defensive tackle Justin Jones said Monday when asked how the offense looks different. "Justin Fields and DJ Moore, yeah, that's different. That's really different. There's been some really nice passes, some really nice balls that drop right into his hands. ... But yeah, there's been some really nice passes that DJ caught that make you scratch your head and be like, 'I don't know how you even got that through there or how you made that catch.' But they have a really, really good connection. I think that's really going to be scary this season coming up."
The Bears' offseason acquisition of Moore is the lynchpin of a plan to surround Fields with the supporting cast needed to improve as a passer and cement himself as the Bears' franchise quarterback.
Moore headlines an improved cast of wide receivers that have already offered a glimpse of their lethal versatility early on in camp. But while Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet, and Robert Tonyan offer the Bears reliable pass-catchers, it's Moore's arrival that has made the Bears' offense a hot early-camp topic around the NFL.
Jones and the Bears' defense have had a front-row ticket to Chicago's newest deadly combination, and they see a connection that will keep opposing defenses up at night this fall.