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We’re just seven games into the Justin Fields era, and it’s hard to believe there was a time when Matt Nagy’s plan was for the Bears to rest Fields for most of, if not his entire, rookie season.

While there have certainly been some highs and lows through Fields’ first stretch of games, attributed to typical rookie growing pains, offensive line concerns and coaching, Fields has finally hit his stride.

Fields had his breakout game against the Steelers on the road in prime time, where the entire NFL world got a glimpse of a star in the making. Fields was poised, confident and decisive — and the coaches finally allowed Fields to get more aggressive downfield, where he completed seven passes of 15-plus yards.

The initial plan was for Fields to sit behind Andy Dalton and learn on the bench, like Patrick Mahomes did. But the football gods intervened when Dalton suffered a knee injury that gave Fields a shot for his first start in Week 3.

Ever since then, it’s been a learning experience for Fields, who’s feeling more confident with each passing game. He thinks the on-field experience has been extremely beneficial.

“I think I’m learning a lot and am going to continue to learn,” Fields said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on 670 The Score. “Me being able to see different defenses, and how they operate. The more I’m out there, the easier it is to see.”

It’s hard to believe that in an alternate reality that it’s Dalton still serving as the starting quarterback while Fields sits on the bench, not getting the benefit of game experience.

Thankfully, in our reality, Fields has seven starts under his belt and is coming off his breakout game with eight games left to grow as a rookie.