With Justin Fields’ future in flux and everything seemingly stacked against his chances of convincing the Bears he’s their franchise quarterback, he delivered a performance Sunday that will keep the debate going.
He made the decisive plays in the Bears’ 28-13 win over the Lions, a landmark victory for him and the team, and gave everyone something to think about as the team heads toward a decision between committing to him and resetting with perhaps the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Fields and the Bears got redemption against the opponent that embarrassed them last time they played. Whereas last month the Bears blew a 26-14 lead over the Lions with four minutes left in Detroit, they went up 25-13 early in the fourth quarter at Soldier Field and closed without any drama.
Fields’ performance wasn’t always artful, but he played well overall and was instrumental in the win. The Bears wouldn’t have taken this game without him.
“He’s still growing and getting better every week,” wide receiver DJ Moore said. “These last four games, you might see something spectacular out of him.”
That’d go a long way.
Fields wasn’t “spectacular” against the Lions, but he was good. He completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers for an 88.3 passer rating and ran 12 times for 58 yards and a touchdown. He bailed the Bears out on third down with scrambles three times, including his 11-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
He also put them ahead late in the third on a brilliant play.
With the Bears facing fourth-and-13 at the Lions’ 38-yard line, Fields drew Lions star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson offsides, then took advantage of the free play by perfectly leading Moore into the end zone on a 38-yard touchdown pass to take a 19-13 lead.
The Bears never had any intention of running a play. If the Lions restrained themselves, as expected, they simply would’ve taken the delay-of-game penalty and punted. But the Bears sold it with Fields’ hard count, receivers pretending to signal to each other and the offensive line making a flurry of fake calls.
“I thought no way in hell are they jumping,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I don’t know how you could jump in that situation, but they did. It was a hell of a cadence and a hell of a throw to DJ.”
Moore ended up in single coverage against cornerback Jerry Jacobs, and Fields read it instantly.
“He’s hard to cover when you’ve got just one guy on him like that,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “Really good throw, really good catch, and really good reaction. When they jump, you’ve got to beat them to the punch because the defense isn’t quite ready. When they jump offsides, they stop, they hesitate, so you have a little bit more time, and that’s exactly what happened on that play.”
The Bears predominantly credited the theatrics of left guard Teven Jenkins and Fields, who said he called “a dummy protection adjustment to make it feel like a real play,” for baiting Hutchinson.
Fields was savvy to snap into action and take advantage of Hutchinson’s error. It’s a sign of growth from two years ago, when he was inattentive against the Packers and incorrectly thought he had a free play and flung an interception to safety Darnell Savage.
The Lions fumbled the snap two plays later at their own 29-yard line, Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards recovered it, and it wasn’t long before Fields raced for a touchdown and a two-score lead.
Unlike last time, that was it. The Bears looked competent and complete against a team that came in at 9-3 atop the NFC North.
“That’s what we can do,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “In the past, we just kinda get in our britches and get scared and don’t be ourselves. This time we came together. We got in that same position we were in last time and we just finished the game. It’s huge for us. It’s a lot of momentum.”
The essence of general manager Ryan Poles’ decision on Fields is whether the Bears can win with him — really win, as in compete for championships. He’s looking at college quarterbacks through the same lens, and the Panthers lost again Sunday to further solidify the probability that the Bears will pick first in the draft because of their trade in March.
Fields was good enough to beat the Lions, but it’s up to Poles to ascertain if it’ll be enough in the long run and whether Fields can replicate it regularly. The fact that a game like this was remarkable is part of the problem. The rushing and passing yards he put up are roughly what Lamar Jackson averages.
If Fields had proven this was his baseline, for example, the Bears would know they could move forward expecting this or better every week.
For his part, he thinks he can climb from here. Kmet said the Bears missed some opportunities and “probably should’ve put 40 on them, honestly,” and Fields agreed and cited “a lot of spots to improve” as he thought back through the game.
“There were a few throws I missed,” he said. “There were multiple plays during the game where we could have executed better... The third downs and just the throws downfield, of course, there were a couple that I wanted back. But we won the game, and still room to get better, so that’s just the hope for the future.”
Hope is great, but it can’t stop there. Eventually it has to materialize into success.
Conveniently, Fields and the Bears get a chance to prove exactly what they’re saying, that they’re capable of far more than this, when they visit the Browns on Sunday. They’re not as good overall as the Lions, but they have what Kmet called “a top-end defense” that is arguably the best in the NFL against the pass.
That can’t be daunting to Fields. That’s exactly the kind of opponent he should want to face. It’s an ideal chance to make his point.
