Chemistry between Fields, Kmet starting to show up originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Near the end of Bears practice on Thursday, Cole Kmet ran a deep route down the seam. He was immediately blanketed by several defenders, so it seemed unlikely that Justin Fields would throw the ball his way. Fields did throw the ball his way, and Kmet managed to track the ball, bring it in while tightly covered, and hold on to the ball through the ground.
It was an impressive play, and looked to be an unlikely completion from the sidelines. But from Kmet’s perspective it was anything but unexpected.
“Knew exactly where he was gonna throw that and with the leverage I had on the guy,” Kmet said. “That was really cool to see.”
Kmet knew exactly where Fields was going to place the ball, because that’s a route the two have worked on together a lot this offseason. That extra work dates back to their trip to Atlanta together to work out, along with Darnell Mooney. In fact, every time Kmet and Fields would work out together, they’d end their session with that route.
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That work is all running without defenders, though, so it was Kmet said it was “really cool” to execute it in a real practice setting. He called the extra work a “big deal” in terms of making it happen.
“A throw like today that happened down the middle, that doesn’t happen last year,” Kmet said. “We were working with another quarterback the whole offseason and Justin obviously came in. So it’s tough, it’s tough on guys to get a rhythm and get going. It’s difficult.
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“Obviously, that’s just part of the situation, but now we’ve had a full offseason with one guy and you can really build upon things and kind of try some things out. We've been experimenting with things, whether it’s just our private setting or even in practice, things like that, now we’ve been able to apply it in training camp setting and now here in the preseason games.”
The general consensus from the team is that the offense is still a work in progress. Guys are still learning all the vocab and keys, as coaches continue to install the scheme. But it’s clear that extra work the young Bears core has put in over the offseason is paying off as they lay their foundation.
“We'll definitely build on that.”
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