Chicago Bears like the way rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott has absorbed their teachings: ‘Woo, Tyler Scott, he’s fast, man’

The Chicago Bears first-team offense had failed to convert on one two-minute drive against the second-team defense and was making a second attempt Tuesday at Halas Hall.

On second-and-10 from their 30-yard line, Justin Fields dropped back to pass and rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott darted forward, faked a cut to the outside and streaked back inside past cornerback Greg Stroman. Scott, the speedy fourth-round pick from Cincinnati, turned around to catch the deep ball from Fields for a 48-yard completion, and the offense scored on Fields’ pass to DJ Moore three plays later.

It was one of the highlights of the Bears’ first padded practice. And it was a flash of what has the Bears excited about Scott as he tries to make an impression in a crowded wide receivers room with veterans Moore, Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool.

“I’m super impressed with his maturity and the way he’s learning the offense and the way he takes the concepts,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “He learns at a fast rate, which really helps him because he knows what to do and he knows how to do it and he can play fast. He’s on track to where he needs to be right now.”

Not all of Scott’s reps have run as smoothly as Fields’ deep ball Tuesday.

Scott said his first rep against fourth-year veteran Jaylon Johnson in Bears OTAs in June came with a lesson about playing against high-level NFL cornerbacks and how they dissect their opponents’ games to stay one step ahead.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Scott said he tried to run his route, and Johnson was right on top of it.

“He ran it for me,” Scott said.

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Nearly two months later on Monday, Scott was matched up against Johnson again, and Scott made a catch on a deeper hitch route.

“The biggest thing I was trying to focus on was just really giving him my presence, like I’m going deep and just snapping it off and shutting it down, and I ended up making the catch,” Scott said. “With him, I’m just trying to make everything look the same. I’m not trying to give any tell signs. As a receiver you have to be a good actor, and I’m just trying to be consistent in what I do.”

It’s one of many things Scott is learning as he adjusts to practices at the NFL level after totaling 54 catches for 899 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior at Cincinnati.

He said he is not grading himself on making plays but rather making sure he’s “assignment sharp.”

“Making sure I’m lined up correctly, making sure I’m motioning to the right landmarks, making sure I’m running the right routes, getting my depth,” he said. “Once you get those things, that’s when the game kind of slows down for you.”

Eberflus was not the first coach to compliment the way Scott has approached learning. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower’s first comments on Scott were about his speed.

“Woo, Tyler Scott, he’s fast, man,” Hightower said.

Hightower went on to add that Scott doesn’t make the same mistake twice. Scott said that comes from “just loving the game of football” and wanting to focus on his craft.

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Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said last week the transition to an offense like the one the Bears run can be difficult for players who come from college offenses that don’t use a lot of motions or shifts. He said there was a practice where Scott was off on three or four alignments but thought he was correct.

The Bears are conscious of the adjustment and are trying to “keep it in his wheelhouse” by not asking him to do too much.

“I am excited about where he can go,” Getsy said. “I think that he has come in with the right mentality. He’s a tough dude that works really hard and when you have talent and you have those two things, really good things are going to happen.”

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When Scott was asked who he has been leaning on as he makes the NFL transition, he noted Mooney’s advice to be himself, Equanimeous St. Brown’s attention to detail and Dante Pettis’ coaching. And Scott studies how Moore is always “one step ahead of everybody.”

Scott thinks his mind and his toughness are some of his best attributes beyond his speed. And he looks at Moore with admiration.

“He sees things before it happens,” Scott said. “That just comes with experience as well as watching film. … My mind of being able to see things and being able to feel different defenders, and holes and spots like that, those are good things in my game.”

Scott said his top priority in his first rookie camp is to “earn the trust of everyone around me.”

“Coming in I just tried to humble myself. I was drafted, great. But at the end of the day, you just have to earn trust,” Scott said. “My mindset is if I come in humbled, I can only be exalted. And if I come in exalting myself, I can only be humbled.”