Until the end, Justin Fields was as good as the Bears could have expected him to be in their 31-26 loss Sunday to the Lions after he missed four weeks with a dislocated right thumb.
He showed no discernible signs of rust. He merged the run/pass aspect of his game as fluidly as he has this season. He accounted for 273 yards of total offense (104 rushing, 169 passing) with a 105.2 passer rating. And he avoided turnovers — until the end.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, however, wasn’t even buying the ‘‘until the end’’ qualifier.
‘‘Through the end, I thought he did a nice job — especially with having the layoff and not playing ball for a little while,’’ Getsy said. ‘‘Mentally dialed in . . . and ready to roll. So that part was really good. But still, you’re going against a really good football team, and to be able to go out there and execute and play the way he did, I thought he gave us a chance to win, for sure.’’
Fields took a step forward in his return, but it wasn’t without an old bugaboo: an inability to find a way to win a close game at the end. As has been the case in Fields’ two seasons in Getsy’s offense, he and the play-calling share culpability. The ball — and the game — need to be in his hands more than they are.
With the Bears leading 23-14 in the fourth quarter, Fields had a 29-yard gain to the Lions’ 26-yard line with 6:20 left. But he threw only one official pass in the fourth quarter: a well-thrown bomb to rookie Tyler Scott on third-and-nine with 2:51 left that just missed connecting. But whether it was on the ground or through the air, the ball needed to be in Fields’ hands.
Two plays in particular stood out in the fourth-quarter implosion against the Lions. On a run-pass option on third-and-seven from the Lions’ 23 with the Bears driving for a clinching touchdown, Fields handed off to running back Roschon Johnson up the middle for a two-yard gain, and the Bears settled for Cairo Santos’ 39-yard field goal. And after the Lions drove for a touchdown, Fields handed off to Khalil Herbert on a zone-read on second-and-10 for a one-yard gain, setting up the deep incompletion to Scott.
On Johnson’s run, Fields appeared to have the option to take it himself or to throw to DJ Moore. He gave it to Johnson, who said he got tripped up at the line.
‘‘We love those plays down there,’’ coach Matt Eberflus said. ‘‘We thought we could pop that. [Fields] could have had a disconnect on that one but decided to hand it off. I think [linebacker Alex Anzalone] was there waiting for him. We thought he could pop that one.’’
It was the third consecutive run after Fields’ 29-yard gain. In fairness, it appeared a field goal would be enough to win at that point of the game.
‘‘We called a run on third-and-[five] and got the first down with Roschon earlier in that game; we executed it right,’’ Getsy said. ‘‘Sometimes you’re making those decisions based on the situation, too. Do you want the clock to run? Are you already in field-goal range? Are you worried about a pressure that might be coming? Whatever it might be, you’re playing the chess game with the other side of the field, too.
‘‘We felt good about all those calls [after Fields’ 29-yard gain]. Do I want to take one or two of them back? Sure, I do. I’d love to because now I know how they did and I know how they defended us.’’
Likewise, the handoff to Herbert on the next series seemed too conservative, in retrospect. Fields with the ball in his own hands almost always looks like the better option. In this case, however, it probably would have been.
But making the split-second decision about whether to keep the ball or to hand it off is part of the learning process for Fields. And it’s probably more instinctive than learned.
Fields, however, isn’t just any read-option quarterback; he’s usually the fastest player on the field. So even when the book says to hand it off, he sometimes would be better off keeping it because he’s Justin Fields.
‘‘There’s no exact science to how you tell that quarterback to make the decision on it,’’ Getsy said. ‘‘I think there’s plenty of times throughout that game [where] if you’re coaching it, you’d say, ‘Why did you keep that?’
‘‘But sometimes it is, who’s that person and who are you? And you have to feel what you feel. And I think from Justin’s standpoint, he made the right decision. We’ve got to execute the rest of the play better the next time, and we will.’’
