Pilot flying H269C helicopter reported drive shaft bearing blew in cruise flight. Pilot landed off airport uneventfully.

Narrative

Private Helicopter pilot with 175ish hours on type. Flew from ZZZ to ZZZ1; picked up flight instructor. I am working towards my Commerical. Did training with him and dropped him off. Left ZZZ1 and fly direct to ZZZ. Half way to ZZZ cruising at 1500 MSL at 65 kts with 6 kt head wind. Have 15 gallons of fuel remaining. Gauges are within normal limits; no warning lights. Was going to switch to nearest control tower for transition through their airspace. While cruising I felt a pop behind me. Engine RPM dropped by 50 RPM then returned back to normal. Still no warning lots. Gauges are still in normal limits. Flight controls are normal. I smelled something burning described as carbon or rubber smell. I was flying over [airport]; made the decision to land on the that field and not continue a flying to the nearest airfield which was ZZZ2 8NM. Proceeded normal landing. Did not auto rotate. Flight controls were still functioning; and engine still had power. Set the helicopter down safely and shut it down immediately. From time of pop to landing was less than one min. Turned off power and fuel. Stepped out of the helicopter and no fire. I did notice a rubber seal broken around the drive shaft from the engine to the pully system for the Rotar system. I contacted services dispatch and notify them of the situation. Did not call tower on radio or phone. Did not [request priority]. Called my mechanic and she came out. She is an IA. We were able to get a crew to come out and dismantle the rotor blades and placed the helicopter on a trailer. We took it back to ZZZ in the hanger. Mechanic IA tore apart the pully system and she found the lower drive shaft bearing blew; appears to be dry and no grease. We also found H frame bracket was cracked and damage. Mechanic will be preforming repairs and will be followed by ground tests. Helicopter annual was finished three months ago with about 30 hours on it since then.