Quarterback Justin Fields is getting little help from a banged-up Bears offense. Still, though, the Bears went into halftime trailing the Eagles, the best team in the NFL, by only four points.
Behind one of his most ridiculous runs of the season — a 39-yard scramble in which he ducked under a sure sack and sprinted up the left sideline on second-and-27 — Fields has the Bears are down 10-6 at halftime at Soldier Field.
Fields’ run set up the Bears’ only score. One play after the scramble — Fields had reached the end zone but officials ruled his left foot stepped out at the 9 — he handed off to David Montgomery for a nine-yard touchdown. Bears kicker Cairo Santos missed yet another extra point. Bizarrely, he’s missed five of them this season — and two in the last two games — while missing only two field goals all year.
JUSTIN FIELDS. INCREDIBLE RUN.
— NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2022
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Fields’ run made him the Bears’ single-season rushing leader for a quarterback, passing Bobby Douglass, who had 968 yards in 1972.
The Bears defense has at times baffled the league’s best passing offense, too. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a first-quarter interception to rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon, who returned from concussion protocol, and a second-quarter pick to veteran safety DeAndre Houston-Carson.
The Eagles’ lone touchdown came on a 22-yard Hurts run with 43 seconds to play in the half. He took a shotgun snap and sprinted up the middle, untouched, while safety Jaquan Brisker blitzed a different gap. Both the touchdown and the Eagles’ field goal earlier in the quarter were set up by long catches by receiver De’Vonta Smith. He has three catches for 104 yards.
Fields is playing without four of his top six wide receivers. Darnell Mooney is out for the season with an ankle injury, Chase Claypool was ruled out Friday with a knee problem and N’Keal Harry was scratched Sunday because of a bad back. Equanimeous St. Brown was concussed after catching a third-down pass in the first quarter and is out for the game. The Bears also lost starting right guard Teven Jenkins to a neck injury; he was put on a backboard and carted off the field early in the first quarter.
