The Bears lost a terrible game Thursday night. Somehow, someway, they didn’t lose Justin Fields. I’m still trying to figure out how he escaped serious injury.
Whatever this is — sources are calling it “football” — it’s not sustainable if the goal is for the quarterback to survive. The Bears fell 12-7 to Washington in a brutally bad performance by both teams. Fields ran the ball a lot. The Commanders hit him a lot. Better and smarter teams are going to figure out that Fields’ first through seventh instincts is to run, thanks to a bad offensive line and weak receivers.
Fields got his rushing yards — 88 on 12 carries — but he also got his body abused. Washington sacked him five times and smacked him countless others. Imagine what it would have looked like against a team not coming off of a four-game losing streak.
“I’m hurting,” he said after the game. “I’m hurting pretty good.”
It’s hard enough to analyze Fields when his teammates are doing decent imitations of NFL players. It’s almost impossible when he’s being chased like a wounded deer. There is no doubt he’s a gifted runner. It’s what he does best. But if this keeps up, he’s going to end up like Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz, a shell of the quarterback he once was since injuring a knee on a run play during his second season.
The answer might not be palatable to the Bears and their fans: Fields is going to have to stay in the pocket and show whether he’s a passer, too. It likely means a lot of interceptions, both because of his accuracy issues and because of a lack of quality receivers. And it likely means a higher risk of getting plowed by pass rushers, both because of a bad offensive line and because of his tendency to hang onto the ball too long.
Let the running backs run. Let Fields run once in a while to keep the defense honest.
But it’s time to find out if he’s a quarterback. I get it: The Bears almost won a game because of his running. He had a terrific 39-yard run on their final, ultimately failed drive. But what did we find out about Fields the passer Thursday night? Practically nothing. The Bears got the ball inside the Washington 5-yard line three times and couldn’t get the ball in the end zone. Fields had a bad interception and a bad overthrow on two of those series.
That’s what he needs to work on. Not his running.
This game was intriguing for one reason: Wentz vs. Fields. Wentz used to be what Fields aspires to be.
So what were we witnessing in Thursday night’s battle of the quarterbacks? Past greatness (Wentz) vs. future greatness (Fields)? Or were we watching the unclear present (Fields) facing what his future might look like (a latter-day, not-so-good-anymore Wentz)?
Or were we simply watching two quarterbacks who would rather be anywhere but the situation in which they find themselves?
Judging by the first half, you’d have to say we were watching the end of the world as we know it. Because if life is a 3-0 Washington halftime lead, if it’s 57 passing yards by the Wentz and a 40.5 passer rating by Fields, I’m not sure any of us want to stick around for it. At least not for the second half.
Bears running back Khalil Herbert had a 64-yard run in the second quarter — and his team got nothing out of it. The Commanders stuffed him at the goal line on fourth down.
On their previous series, the Bears got to the Washington 5-yard line, only to see a Fields pass bounce off the helmet of defensive lineman Efe Obada and into the hands of teammate Jonathan Allen.
Wentz? He averaged 4.1 yards a pass attempt in the first half.
It was brutal times two, quarterback-wise. It didn’t get a whole lot better in the second half.
“I told the guys, ‘We’re right there,’ ” coach Matt Eberflus said after the game.
Where is “there?’’ On the verge of an offensive breakout? It’s a “there’’ I don’t see.
There is some reason for hope, sure. On the Bears’ first series of the second half, Fields threw as nice a ball as you’ll see, hitting Dante Pettis over his left shoulder in the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. The play had it all. A beautiful pass. Pettis getting both feet down before going out of bounds. And Fields writhing in pain on the ground before getting up to celebrate with teammates.
“The mental toughness that he has is just phenomenal,” Eberflus said. “He’ll hang in there with the best of them.”
He shouldn’t have to.
Sometimes you wonder what Fields is doing. Other times you wonder why you doubted him. Most of the time you wonder if he’ll survive the day.
That’s how it is. It’s not how it should be.
