Bears News: Justin Fields talks impressive win over Lions |
CHICAGO - Something about playing the Detroit Lions seems to help the Bears offense clique. The key difference between earlier in the season and this last time - the defense finished the game. Once again, they forced multiple turnovers and once again, Chicago won the turnover battle by plus three. However, none of it would have been possible without the play from quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields led this team with 223 passing yards and a total of two touchdowns - one rushing and one passing. He connected with receiver DJ Moore six times for 68 yards; Moore also had a rushing touchdown that was set up by the success in the passing game. Despite beating Detroit by double digits, Fields believes the Bears left a lot out on the field. “I think, personally, we did leave a lot out on the field. I think we could have been better in some areas,” Fields said. “At the end of the day, we got the dub and that’s all that matters and, like I said before, the team did a great job at halftime, coming out after halftime, third and fourth quarter of finishing the game and just playing for each other.” In addition to his connections with Moore, he was able to find tight end Cole Kmet for five receptions that went for 66 yards. Kmet has been a player on the rise recently, a trend that started with Tyson Bagent at quarterback. However, a player that has been struggling to develop chemistry with Fields is Darnell Mooney who was just a 1,000-yard receiver in 2021. In this rematch against the Lions, he only had two receptions for 44 yards. That receiving total is about average for him while he came into this game averaging 29.3 yards per game. Despite the lack of chemistry, Fields is confident in Mooney’s ability to work and be successful. “One thing about Darnell Mooney, he’s going to put in the work to be successful,” Fields said. “So, I’m not really worried about that at all. We’re just kind of (going to) keep working, keep going at it.” For Fields, there is a lot on the line for the future of his NFL career. Contractually, Chicago will need to make a decision about whether to exercise the fifth-year option on his contract. If they do not choose to exercise that option, it seems likely the Bears will use the No. 1 overall pick, which is almost guaranteed since the Carolina Panthers still have only one win, on a quarterback such as Drake Maye out of North Carolina or Caleb Williams out of USC. However, a performance like this could help to save Fields’ career as he showed he can make the right decision when needed and is finally finding a strong combination between throwing through the air and using his legs. Still, he has a lot of developing to do to show he is the quarterback of the future in Chicago. Going against the Cleveland Browns this coming Sunday (Noon / FOX) will be the test of whether Fields has finally taken the next step or not. Last time, and the only time, he faced the Cleveland Browns was back in his first career start when the Browns defense sacked him nine times, 4.5 of those coming from Myles Garrett. Garrett is having another successful season with 13 sacks already. So, containing him versus Chicago’s offensive line will be key to deciding the game.
