As the Bears tried to regroup from getting blown out by the Lions and redirect their attention to the season finale against the Vikings, coach Matt Eberflus flung the door wide open on the possibility of sitting quarterback Justin Fields.
His tone shifted from Sunday, when he said he was set on playing Fields if he was healthy because there’s no substitute for game experience.
Eberflus said Monday the team was “working through” whether Fields would play. He repeated his stance from the day before, but when pressed about the gray area of Fields being classified as “healthy” for an inconsequential game like this as opposed to one that had tangible stakes for the Bears, he called it a “good question” and returned to his talking points.
“We’re gonna look at everybody on our football team and make sure that we’re doing what’s best for the Bears,” Eberflus responded.
Between the nagging pain of Fields’ separated non-throwing shoulder and the hip injury he played through Sunday — plus who knows what else after getting sacked a league-high 55 times? — there’s plenty of wiggle room for Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles to go either way on his availability.
The clearest indication that Fields could sit is that it would’ve been incredibly easy for Eberflus to end the conversation with a firm answer, and he didn’t. He said he’d “potentially” make the call by the start of the practice week Wednesday.
Eberflus and Poles absolutely should prioritize the best interest of the organization, but that could be defined any number of ways at this point.
As far as Fields goes, for all the excitement he has generated, he’s still a young, developing quarterback who needs all the snaps he can get. He’s coming off completing 7 of 21 passes for 75 yards.
It’d be grossly inaccurate to assert that there’s nothing to gain by playing him.
Fields, who said Sunday he wants to play every possible snap, also has his eye on breaking Lamar Jackson’s record of 1,206 yards rushing in a season by a quarterback and needs just 64 to do so. He deserves the opportunity to chase it.
“It’s an important factor, but it’s not end-all, be-all,” Eberflus said. “Certainly the health of our team is the most important thing.”
Then there’s Eberflus, who has maintained that the purpose of this season is to develop “championship habits” regardless of the Bears’ record plunging to 3-13. Shelving Fields because the game is meaningless and the personnel around him has deteriorated would undercut the effort-and-intensity message he has preached for nearly a year.
However, the situation becomes hazardous and perhaps unproductive for Fields if he doesn’t have enough of an offensive line to protect him and enough receiving threats to get the ball out.
The overly romantic notion of respecting the game and taking pride in divisional matchups don’t justify the risk of a worst-case injury to Fields.
There’s also something the Bears know but won’t say: There are major draft ramifications.
They could pick anywhere from first to fourth. Losing to the Vikings would assure them sitting no lower than second in the draft. And if the Texans beat the Colts, the Bears would land the No. 1 pick with a loss.
A spectacular performance by Fields is the only thing that spur an upset, in which case the Bears could slide to No. 4.
While every game helps Fields progress, it’s prudent to sit him. Eberflus and Poles have seen enough in 15 starts to know whether they want to build around him, and this game won’t alter whatever opinion they’ve formed.
If they want to counter that it’s valuable experience and they can’t live in constant fear of an injury, that’s fair.
Either way, be decisive. The most absurd course would be to drag this out all week and pull him halfway through like it’s a preseason game. Pick a path and proceed.
