Belles Jones wants Bears to remember why they drafted him

The Bears don’t have much to play in Week 18, other than helping Justin Fields set a new single-season quarterback rushing record. Winning doesn’t change your destiny. They still have one of the worst records in the league and sit at the bottom of the NFC North.

We’ve already seen it as the Bears rolled out a rotation in the offensive line between Larry Borom and Dieter Eislen. It gave him an extra carry. But one person on the offense who hasn’t added much playing time is Bellas Jones Jr.

The Bears used Jones Jr.’s third-round draft pick in hopes that Jones Jr. would spark special teams and bring explosive playmaking ability on offense. According to the team’s scout report, he was fast, handled the ball in space, and was able to challenge both horizontal and vertical defense. Put in, he didn’t see much of that this season as he played just over 25% of the team’s offensive snaps in two games.

“The first thing that really held me back was my hamstring injury,” Jones Jr. said. “It was carried over to seasons and so on. I feel like that was holding me back. Did I get a good sense of the playbook? It sure did. But what was holding me back more than anything else was I think it was a hamstring.”

Jones Jr. only missed a good portion of training camp due to injury. It kept him out of two games in the preseason and delayed his regular season debut to Week 4. His one of those snaps was a touchdown, so it looked like the arrow was pointing up, but from there he started derailing. In Week 6, he muffed his second punt of the year, leading the Commanders to his 12-7 game win. Jones Jr. did a healthy scratch on weeks 9 and 10.

Through it all, Jones Jr. kept his head held high. He was optimistic in the locker room and confident that things would turn around for him. Jones Jr. was taken out of the kennel and given another chance to return the kick. He began playing positive impact in that phase of the game, returning 398 yards in 12 kickoffs after Week 11, averaging 33.2 yards. Jones Jr. returned to play on the offense and finally caught his ball deep off Fields in Week 16.

“I feel like I’ve gotten better with my production, my practice habits, etc.,” Jones Jr. said. “Everything is going in the right direction. Just stay me. Stay mentally focused and trapped, and everything else will take care of itself. Extra work.” please continue.”

That’s the key to Jones getting more snaps in the final game of the season, and he’ll likely look longer against the Vikings so the Bears can better evaluate him heading into the offseason. Should he get the chance to play more, Jones Jr. just wants the Bears to remember what drew them in the first place.

“No matter how many snaps I get, no matter how many kickoff returns I get, I want to be the best I can be,” Jones Jr. said. “Be who they drafted it.”

Click here to follow the Under Center podcast.