Chase Claypool joined the Bears at the perfect time. Justin Fields is soaring, the team is moving the chains and putting up points. For the first time in what feels like forever the offense wasn’t booed off the field by the fans at Soldier Field at any point.
“It was super fun,” Claypool said. “It was like my first day playing football almost.”
Claypool said that the game had started to slow down for him earlier this year, but with those “first day” vibes with the Bears things started to speed up for him again.
“I was like bouncing off walls and trying to do everything perfect and put this little blanket of pressure on myself.”
That led to a couple of mistakes, including a drop on what should’ve been an easy catch on a wide receiver screen. But the Bears didn’t make too much of that drop, and called Claypool’s number again the very next play, on another pass near the line of scrimmage. On his second try, Claypool came through with a 12-yard gain for a first down.
“That’s a good feeling when something doesn’t go your way, but then they come right back to you and you make a play,” Claypool said. “I thought I owed it to the team to do that. I’m appreciative of that.”
Another moment Claypool appreciated was the crowd’s reaction to his first catch as a Chicago Bear. It was another screen, but this time it only went for one yard. Normally the only reaction a play like that would elicit is a yawn, but the Bears faithful roared when Claypool’s name was announced on the public address system.
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“That was pretty cool,” Claypool said. “I can’t thank the Bears fans enough for being so welcoming, the way they were. Obviously I wish I could’ve done more for them and the team, but I’m just going to keep stacking brick by brick and I think we're going to be a super exciting offense.”
Claypool expects he won’t have those first-game jitters next week when the Bears host the Lions. By then he should have a better grasp of the offense and could see his snap count go up.
“Today was a really crazy experience,” Claypool said. “I think now that I’m settled in I can take a deep breath and let everything settle itself out.”