The temptation is to say that the Bears’ loss Sunday lacked any redeeming value, but that would ignore the fact that a rebuilding team didn’t hurt its draft position next year with a meaningless victory and that an inactive Justin Fields didn’t get hurt tripping over a headset wire on the sideline.
The most entertaining part of the day came before kickoff, when the Bears dropped the weeklong subterfuge and announced that Fields wouldn’t play against the Jets because of an injured left shoulder. That meant Trevor Siemian would start at quarterback … until he strained an oblique muscle warming up before the game. That meant third-stringer Nathan Peterman, who hadn’t started since 2018, would lead the Bears against the Jets … hold it! … until it was announced that Siemian, with help from modern medicine, would give it a go.
