Bears quarterback Justin Fields tries to run past Vikings defensive end D.J. Wonnum in the second quarter at Soldier Field on Dec. 20, 2021. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune, Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Late in the first quarter Sunday, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields made a simple diagnosis on a zone-read play, noticing Green Bay Packers linebacker Kingsley Enagbare crashing down and opting to keep the football rather than give it to running back David Montgomery.
Yes, the Packers had cornerback Keisean Dixon attacking from Fields’ right, attempting to hem in the quarterback. But Fields ditched Dixon with one decisive cut.
“It was just me and the nickel,” he said.
Still 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and 10 short of midfield, that’s all Fields needed. One move, open space and his foot on the gas. Off he went — past the Packers line, on to the second level, through the secondary.
Fifty-five yards later, Fields had his eighth rushing touchdown of the season, another big-play jolt that had the Soldier Field crowd alive and rocking.
Left tackle Braxton Jones, who was pulling on the play, barely flinched when he looked up and saw the back of Fields’ jersey.
“Justin was gone,” Jones said. “When you get him out in space, you know he’s going to do great things with the ball. I wasn’t surprised. At all. His legs are crazy.”
Too easy.
Too. Darn. Easy.
There was a time not that long ago when the Bears offense seemed allergic to long touchdowns. From Week 8 of 2018 until Week 14 of 2020, the Bears failed to score on any snap they took from inside their territory.
That was a span of 38 games, 430 possessions and 2,464 offensive plays.
Now the explosive touchdowns are coming from Fields just about every week. Sunday’s 55-yard TD run was Fields’ third rushing score from Bears territory in his last four starts. In the Super Bowl era, no quarterback had ever had three touchdown runs of at least 50 yards in a career — much less in a 29-day span.
Fields also has two touchdown passes of at least 50 yards this season and has accounted for 22 plays — touchdowns or otherwise — of at least 25 yards.
His playmaking knack is indisputable and has breathed life into a season that otherwise is going nowhere. The Bears are 3-10 and in last place by two games in the NFC North. They have won only once in 10 games since September and head into their Week 14 open date looking for some needed decompression.
Fields, though, has given the fan base an invigorating injection of hope for whatever may become beyond this season.
Here’s your comprehensive Week 13 QB rewind.
Defining moment
It could be argued that Fields should want his first of two late interceptions back, a throw to Equanimeous St. Brown down the numbers that Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander jumped and picked off. It was a costly turnover in a crucial moment with the Bears on the march at the Packers 43-yard line and trailing by a point with less than three minutes to play.
That pass came on first down. Instead of the Bears continuing a potential go-ahead drive, they gave the Packers the ball back.
Four snaps later, after a 46-yard Christian Watson touchdown run and a Marcedes Lewis 2-point conversion reception, the Bears were toast, trailing by two scores and left to attempt a desperate rally that ended with Fields’ second interception with 44 seconds remaining.
However, if coaches and critics are going to challenge Fields to make more NFL-level anticipation throws, relying on his receivers to be where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there, it’s hard to blast Fields for making that throw to St. Brown on a curl route with a belief that the veteran would be more explosive getting in and out of his break.
St. Brown wasn’t quite quick enough. And it left the door open for Alexander.
“That’s a trust throw,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “When you have a trust throw, that means (Fields) is reading it and, man, he’s going to let it rip. The guys have to do a great job of stepping up and making those plays. I thought their corner made a nice play; he jumped it. But hopefully our receiver can jump out and knock that down if possible.”
On Monday, St. Brown described his vantage point.
“They squat on curl routes, and (Alexander) is a good player,” he said. “He made a great play on the curl route that I ran. And, yeah, I’ve got to try to get that ball out sooner.”
One day the Bears hope to have a more talented receiving corps that would become more helpful to Fields. And the last thing they can afford now is for their quarterback to develop hesitant habits because of a below-average supporting cast.
Right now, Fields’ decision-making deserves almost as much scrutiny as his execution. And in that particular instance, with a big-picture view of his development, it would be imprudent to blast Fields for that turnover.
It also would be nice for Fields and the Bears offense to capitalize on one of these fourth-quarter opportunities in close games. In each of Fields’ last four starts, the Bears had the ball in the final six minutes with a chance to drive for a tying or go-ahead score. All four times, the Bears failed — with two interceptions and two turnovers on downs.
Even Fields’ biggest cheerleaders shouldn’t ignore his fourth-quarter struggles. In 12 starts this season, he has a 53.8 passer rating in the fourth quarter and has thrown six of his 10 interceptions then. .
Ten times this season the Bears offense has taken possession with six minutes or less remaining and a chance to tie or go ahead. Their only scoring drive in those situations was a four-play, zero-yard field-goal drive to beat the Houston Texans in Week 3.
This is an important checkpoint in a young quarterback’s maturation. And Fields still has to prove he can become a consistent and reliable late-game assassin.
Eberflus was asked Monday what he made of the criticism put on Fields for not finishing big drives late in games.
“It’s the nature of the position, right?” he said. “That’s what it is.”
The Bears have had the ball 17 times in the fourth quarter this season with a chance to tie or go ahead and have only two touchdowns and a field goal. Fields has a 41.5 passer rating in those possessions with no touchdown passes and three interceptions.
Eberflus agreed Monday that eventually it will be on Fields to will the offense over that hump in game-deciding situations.
“Yes, I believe that to be true,” he said. “I know the man inside after being with him for a year and the grit he has and the talent he has. No question he’s going to get it done.”
On the bright side
As a passer, Fields had one of his best days as a pro. With reliable protection up front and a steady pocket presence, he completed 20 of 25 passes for 254 yards. He also wasn’t sacked. There were few signs of anxiousness, with Fields displaying an encouraging level of command.
“I think the passing game really took a big step today,” he said after the game. “I just felt comfortable out there going through (my) progressions.”
Maybe this was a step in the right direction as the offense continues to evolve.
Fields had only two true scrambles, a 6-yard run on third-and-9 on the opening drive and a 1-yard scramble in the second half. Instead he showed increasing pocket patience and vision, keeping his eyes down the field and looking for open targets as he bought time and glided away from the Packers rush.
His second-longest completion was a 49-yard strike up the left sideline to N’Keal Harry, a 50-50 ball he launched after going through his first two reads, then spinning out the back door of the pocket. With Harry a half-step behind Alexander, Fields gave his receiver a chance to show his stuff.
“I already knew it was a catch because he’s probably the one of the best jump-ball guys that we have on our team,” Fields said. “So at that point I threw it up, and of course he made a hell of a catch.”
Eberflus labeled Fields’ 24-yard, third-quarter completion to Cole Kmet as “the most impressive play of the game.” On that sequence, Fields showed great instincts in climbing the pocket and found Kmet alone along the left sideline for a big gain to convert on third-and-10.
Fields showed similar pocket presence on a 14-yard dart to Dante Pettis on the same drive.
Perhaps Fields’ left shoulder injury made him a tad more hesitant to turn passing plays into running opportunities at the first sign of pressure. Perhaps he simply is becoming a little more polished at what the Bears are asking him to prioritize as a passer when he feels heat from the rush. Maybe Sunday’s performance offered a combination of both.
Regardless, the second year quarterback continues to show signs of growth as he gains more experience.
Uh-oh
For his second consecutive game, Fields’ final pass was a loss-sealing interception, this one a poor throw and even worse decision on a ball pushed up the right sideline to Pettis.
Fields seemed to double-clutch on the play and didn’t take what looked like a sure 5-yard gain to the same side of the field to Velus Jones Jr. Instead he threw into heavy congestion near the end zone and gift-wrapped an interception for Dixon.
That was Fields’ 10th interception this season, an attention-grabbing total given how infrequently the Bears pass — an NFL-low 279 attempts.
Fields’ interception rate has spiked to 4.0%, a number worth keeping an eye on. Over the last 10 seasons, among qualifying quarterbacks, 17 have finished a season with an interception rate at 3.7% or higher — including Fields as a rookie.
That list includes a handful of players who were established standouts: Peyton Manning (5.1% in 2015), Andrew Luck (4.1% in 2015) and Eli Manning (4.9% in 2013). Josh Allen sputtered to a 3.8% interception rate in his rookie season of 2018.
But the fraternity also includes Nick Mullens, Baker Mayfield, DeShone Kizer, Terrelle Pryor, Matt Schaub and Christian Ponder among others. Only two quarterbacks — Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick — posted an interception rate of 3.7% or higher in multiple seasons. Fields is in danger of joining them.
Perhaps even more concerning, Fields’ fourth-quarter interception rate is 9.2%, according to The Football Database, with six interceptions in 65 passes.
“It’s just about making good decisions, obviously, in the last part of the game,” Eberflus said. “He’s going to do that. It’s a process of learning and getting better and he’ll get that done.”
Among quarterbacks with at least 50 fourth-quarter passing attempts, the NFL’s interception rate leaders are Tua Tagavailoa (0.0%), Aaron Rodgers (0.8%), Joe Burrow (0.9%) and Geno Smith (1.1%).
Odds and ends
- Fields rushed only six times for 71 yards. Three of those runs were tuck-and-run scrambles and another was a sneak to convert on third-and-1 in the first half. That left only two other designed runs, a dip from how the Bears had been operating. Fields didn’t have a run called for him after halftime, and the Bears squeezed only three points out of five possessions. Eberflus was asked Monday for his overview. “The way the game was going, we were passing it so well, I think we were just going with that more,” he said. “I think that was the right thing to do.” Eberflus went on to say the Bears would prefer to have Fields’ designed runs be more situational — on third down, inside the red zone, in the two-minute drill — than a main staple of the offense.
- The Bears scratched fullback Khari Blasingame from their plans Saturday night when he became ill and was made inactive Sunday. Tight end Trevon Wesco was tabbed to slide into Blasingame’s role on offense, but Wesco suffered a game-ending leg injury in the first quarter. That required some on-the-fly adjusting by the Bears coaches that proved challenging.
- The Bears won the coin flip and opted to take the ball first, a departure from their usual m.o. of deferring until the second half. They went 53 yards with the opening possession and kicked a 40-yard field goal to take the lead. The Bears have scored on 10 of their 13 opening possessions this season with three touchdowns and 10 field goals.
- The Bears had a 54.6% third-down conversion rate (6 of 11), the fourth consecutive game Fields has started in which they converted more than half of their third-down tries. For the season, the Bears are up to 45.1% on third down, on track to break the franchise record in that category (43.9% in 1989). They rank sixth in the NFL behind the Bills, Chiefs, Bengals, Eagles and 49ers.
()
Originally published at Tribune News Service