Fields forever? The Bears QB makes his case
Confetti from an NFL weekend.
Last year the Chicago Bears shouted their support for quarterback Justin Fields without saying a word.
They had the first pick in the NFL draft and pretended Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, the valedictorian and salutatorian of the class, weren’t there. Instead they dealt the pick to the Panthers, who picked Young instead of Stroud (oops) and asked for Carolina’s first round pick in this upcoming draft, plus receiver D.J. Moore.
Clever. Now the Panthers, with each dysfunctional week, are wrapping up the worst record in the league, which means the Bears can be the leadoff men again. And they also have their own pick, which will be somewhere in the 5-6-7 range, provided they don’t win more games like they did Sunday.
Few teams get such early, multiple shots at the smorgasbord. Again, there are shiny QBs in the showroom. Don’t get caught up in Caleb Williams “falling down the draft board.” The USC quarterback still can do things that weren’t seen in the NFL before Patrick Mahomes. Then there’s Drake Maye and the Heisman squadron of Jayden Daniels, Miichael Penix and Bo Nix.
The Bears have had one winning season since 2012 and haven’t won a playoff game since 2010. They’re now 5-8. Fields remains their quarterback. If they believed in him so much a year ago, there’s no reason to stop now.
Fields ran 12 times for 58 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, as Chicago beat Detroit, 28-13. He was 19 for 33 in the air for 223 yards and another touchdown. He had three pass plays that went for 28 or more yards, including a 38-yard, tiebreaking touchdown to Moore. When Jared Goff fumbled deep in Detroit territory, Fields saw a corridor to the right and dashed 11 yards for a 25-13 Chicago lead.
He has thrown 33 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his last 17 starts, and on Sunday he got to 5,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards. That’s one of those cubic zirconia milestones that doesn’t do you much good in the fourth quarter. But it would be odd to cast aside Fields just as he’s getting over his battle scars.
He’s obviously important to the Bears. They drafted him 11th in the first round in 2021, one pick ahead of Micah Parsons and the fourth QB taken (behind Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance). His passer rating this year is 91.8, a career high, and 2024 will be the fourth and final year of his rookie deal.
So it might behoove the Bears to build up the cast around Fields while he isn’t causing salary cap problems. With the first pick they might consider taking Marvin Harrison Jr., provided the Buckeyes’ receiver comes out, or LSU’s Malik Nabers.. That would make for a bountiful receiver room, considering the Bears already have Moore and Darnell Mooney, and tight end Cole Kmet is looking the part.
With the second premium pick, the Bears could trade it to get more goodies, or use it to polish off a suddenly menacing defense. They rank No. 1 in rushing yards allowed per game and No. 2 in rushing yards allowed per snap. They could use a quarterback-chaser, and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu is likely to be there.
Fields has fought through injury and insult, along with icicles. Starting over, at this point, seems impulsive and flighty. For the results of “impulsive and flighty,” check out Carolina.
Certainly the Bears showed a few next-big-thing tendencies when they cuffed around the Lions, who are 9-4 and showing no signs of defensive improvement. And the reason Goff was ushered out of Los Angeles was his poor response to a pass rush, which contributed to his three turnovers. The Bears knew Goff has a strong connection with Amon-Ra St. Brown, and shut down St. Brown with three catches (out of nine targets) and 21 yards. They had a similar crackdown on rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who caught only two of the six passes aimed his way. Goff’s passer rating of 54.7 was his lowest of the season.
More wins, of course, will lessen the value of the Bears’ second first-round pick. If that process makes Justin Fields obvious, there’s value in that, too.
More confetti from an NFL weekend:
Dallas 33, Philadelphia 13
– You can no longer say the Cowboys haven’t beaten an elite team. They held the Eagles without a offensive touchdown for the first time in 95 games, and seized a 24-6 lead by scoring on all four first-half possessions. Dallas only punted once, after not punting at all when it beat Seattle last Thursday night. Dak Prescott kept his MVP campaign going by hitting 24 of 39 for 271 yards, good for three touchdowns and no picks, and Dallas ground out 138 rush yards.
– For the Eagles, also 10-3, it came at the end of a hellish stretch in which they beat Kansas City, Buffalo and Dallas and lost to the 49ers and Cowboys. They have given up 109 points in their last three games. But they might have kept pace with Dallas if not for painful fumbles by their best players. Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith all coughed up fumbles to Dallas, and they happened on the Dallas 35, the Dallas 31 and their own 49 yard lines.The Eagles no longer are in the NFC East lead but will win the division if they finish 4-0, with games against Seattle and Arizona and two against the Giants.
– The show-stealer was Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey, who nailed field goals from 50, 59 and 60 yards. No one has ever kicked two 59-yard-plus field goals in the same game, but then Aubrey is the first to make the first 30 attempts of his career. Aubrey was a Notre Dame soccer player who was drafted by Toronto of Major League Soccer in 2017, with the 21st pick, but made All-USFL as a kicker with Birmingham in the spring. He was encouraged by his wife when they were watching football games, and worked with a kicking instructor three times a week, beginning in 2019.
Buffalo 20, Kansas City 17
– The blood pressure is rising in Kansas City (8-5) after three losses in four games. Last week the Chiefs chafed about a pass interference penalty that they felt should have been called but wasn’t. This week Andy Reid went deep into his goody bag to find a play that had Patrick Mahomes passing down the middle to Travis Kelce, who would then hurl a backwards pass to Kadarious Toney. It worked for a go-ahead touchdown with 1:12 left. But, alas, Toney was called for lining up offside. Mahomes still had a second-and-15 on the Bills’ 46, but couldn’t complete another pass. “Embarrassing for the NFL,” said Reid, who said the referees usually warn players when they’re over the line. Mahomes had to be restrained from charging the officials, and slammed his helmet on the sideline. Still, the league’s officials have made offensive alignment a point of emphasis.
– The Chiefs have lost three games at Arrowhead Stadiium and have failed to score more than 21 points in five of their past six games. In his past six games Mahomes has thrown eight TD passes and five interceptions.
– Until the penalty it seemed Josh Allen had jeopardized the Bills by throwing an interception to Chamarri Conner. Allen got a 14-0 lead for the Bills, but they didn’t score a touchdown in the last 41 minutes. They did control the ball for 35 minutes, and Allen ran 10 times for 82 yards. The Bills are now 7-6 and alive, but have upcoming games with the Cowboys and Dolphins.
Baltimore 37, L.A. Rams 31
– Rylan Wallace became the fourth NFL player to end a game with a punt return touchdown in overtime, this one going 73 yards. Wallace was subbing for injured Devin Duvernay. He’s a former fifth-round pick from Oklahoma State who has spent more than his share of time on injured reserve. He has a twin brother, Tracin, who was a high school teammate and went to OSU with him, but had to retire early after three ACL operations.
– It was a shattering loss for the Rams (6-7), who were playing in cold rain at one of the league’s toughest stadiums. L.A. had won three games in succession, and here they went ahead with 4:41 left, gave up a go-ahead TD to Baltimore with 1:22 left, and then used Matt Stafford’s 34-yard pass to Cooper Kupp to set up the game-tying kick by Lucas Havrisik from 36 yards. Kyren Williams creased Baltimore with 114 rush yards on 25 carries, and Kupp caught eight passes for 115. Stafford had three TD throws with no picks.
– Lamar Jackson led the Ravens to a 10-3 record with three TD passes and 70 yards on 11 rushes. One of the bigger plays happened after Tyler Linderbaum’s snap eluded Jackson and gave the Rams a safety and a 22-20 lead. L.A. could have secured a 9-point lead, but Kyle Van Noy sabotaged their drive by tackling Williams for a seven-yard loss. The Ravens took the punt and went ahead 23-22.
Cincinnati 34, Indianapolis 14
– The Bengals’ season didn’t end when Joe Burrow’s did. Jake Browning quarterbacked his second win, six days after his first start and his first win, as he went 18 for 24 and threw for 275 yards against a tough defense and a team that had won four in a row. Browning was intercepted by Ronnie Harrison, who took it 36 yards for a touchdown that tied the game 14-14, and it fazed Browning so much that Cincinnati scored the next 20 points.
– But coach Zac Taylor, whose brother Pres is the offensive coordinator, has diversified the Bengals in Burrow’s absence. Joe Mixon is running more (21 for 79 yards) and rookie Chase Brown came out of the backfield for a 54-yard TD pass play. Browning threw 25 times but targeted no more than four times, and three of his passes went for 45 or more yards. Meanwhile, the Bengals’ defense sacked Gardner Minshew three times, intercepted him once, and snuffed the Indy running game, which didn’t have Jonathan Taylor.
– It was tied 14-14 at the half, but Browning immediately got a touchdown on a 6-play drive, hitting Tanner Hudson with the TD pass. Both teams are 7-6 and reasonably hopeful of postseason play.
Cleveland 31, Jacksonville 27
– Joe Flacco, 38 and a literal greybeard, went 4 for 4 on the first drive and the Browns led, 7-0. It was 14-0 in the second quarter when he hit David Njoku with another TD pass. It became 21-7 after that. Could it be that easy for the former Super Bowl winner for Baltimore, who only signed with Cleveland on Nov. 20? No, but he was the best QB in a Cleveland stadium in which he has a personal 10-2 record. The Browns moved to 8-5 and are likely to make the playoffs with their fourth quarterback of the season.
– Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence had sprained his ankle Monday, but afterward he talked of his team “shooting ourselves in the foot.” Lawrence played but couldn’t move easily, and had to put up 50 passes. He was intercepted three times, twice by Martin Emerson. The Jaguars haven’t run for 100 yards in four of their past five games.
– Jacksonville (8-5) kept coming, though, and Cleveland had to recover an onside kick to wrap up the win. Flacco went 17 for 28 for 212 yards and three touchdowns.
Denver 24, L.A. Chargers 7
– On Denver’s first snap, Mike Davis intercepted Russell Wilson and the Chargers set up on the Broncos’ 13. Then Justin Herbert threw incomplete on third down, Brandon Staley voted to go for it on fourth-and-three, and Herbert threw incomplete to Carl Everett. That became a theme. The Chargers were 0 for 12 on third down and 1 for 6 on fourth, and Herbert eventually gave way to Easton Stick when he broke the index finger on his passing hand.
– Alex Singleton had 10 solo tackles and a sack for a rapidly improving Denver defense. Jonathan Cooper intercepted Herbert and ran it to the Chargers’ three, and Javonte Williams scored from there.
– Stick was a fifth-round pick in 2018 after he went 49-3 as a starter for North Dakota State. In his first significant action, he went 13 for 24 for 179 yards with two sacks, two fumbles, one lost fumble and no touchdowns or interceptions. He did hit Quinton Johnston on a 57-yarder down the middle, but again the Chargers’ longest run only went nine yards. They fell to 5-8. Denver moved to 7-6, one game behind AFC West leader Kansas City.
San Francisco 28, Seattle 16
– Christian McCaffrey took the first snap of the game 72 yards, and the 49ers scored a touchdown on the next play. Considering that Seattle was going with backup QB Drew Lock, that seemed like the on-ramp to a blowout. Instead, the Seahawks took a 10-7 lead and only trailed 21-16 near the end of the third quarter. But Brock Purdy hit Deebo Samuel for 30 yards, and then threw a 44-yard TD to Goerge Kittle.
– The Seahawks are 6-7 and have lost four consecutive games for the first time with Pete Carroll coaching. Lock held up relatively well, going 22 for 31 for 268 yards and two scores, but also threw two picks. The 49ers had four sacks and have 10 in two games against Seattle, and the Seahawks have given up 468 rush yards in their past three games.
– San Francisco (10-3) moved closer to the top overall seed in the NFC, and Purdy had a 122.1 passer rating after hitting 142.3 or higher in three of his previous four games. Samuel has gotten to the end zone five times in his past three games.
N.Y. Jets 30, Houston 6
– Unlike Jets’ fans, Zach Wilson isn’t a fair-weather animal. He picked a soaking Sunday to have his best game, maybe as a pro, when he went 27 for 36 for 301 yards and two touchdowns, as the Jets improved to 5-8. Garrett Wilson (nine catches, 108 yards) and Breece Hall (8 catches, 86 yards and a touchdown) were the beneficiaries.
– Along the way the Jets picked up their first 14-point lead of the season. Their defense gave C.J. Stroud his toughest day yet, and when Quinnen Williams came in for a sack and Stroud’s head bounced off the turf at Met Life Stadium, his day was done. Even though he completed his first four passes, Stroud was 10 for 23 for 91 yards and was sacked four times. In his defense, top receivers Tank Dell and NIco Collins were injured, and the Texans (7–6) were 1 for 13 on third down.
– The Jets only led 14-6 after three quarters. Z. Wilson led off the fourth with a 75–yard scoring drive in which he overcame a 2nd-and-19, and hit Hall for a 3-yard touchdown. Coach DeMeco Ryans chose to go for a fourth down and two on Houston’s 33, and Stroud threw incomplete, which made it simple for Wilson to run a 32-yard drive that ended in Greg Zuerlein’s 51-yard field goal and a 24-6 lead with 6:51 to go.
Minnesota 3, Las Vegas 0
– The most relaxed folks in the NFL biosphere on Sunday were the ones who took the under in this one. Minnesota didn’t get past the Raiders’ 18 yard line, and Vegas (5-8) didn’t get past Minnesota’s 20. There were 17 punts and nine third down conversions, and there were three plays that exceeded 20 yards.
– It was the third 3-0 game in the past 40 years and it might have been the first 0-0 game since Giants-Lions in 1943 if Greg Joseph hadn’t kicked a 36-yard field goal in the final two minutes.Veteran backup Nick Mullens had replaced Joshua Dobbs by then and picked up three third downs on passes during the winning 56-yard drive. The Raiders’ response lasted one play. Ivan Pace intercepted Aidan O’Connell on the Raiders’ 34.
– There were nine sacks and 16 quarterback hits, 11 of those by the Raiders and four by Maxx Crosby, who had two sacks and has 50 as a Raider. Justin Jefferson returned for the Vikings but suffered a chest injury, and Josh Jacobs exited the Raiders’ lineup with a knee injury. The Vikings are 7-6 and are two games behind Detroit, a team they play twice.
Tampa Bay 29, Atlanta 25
– it’s hard to believe that current NFC South teams have played in eight Super Bowls and won two. The Bucs forced a 3-way tie with Atlanta and New Orleans, all at 6-7, with Tampa Bay holding the tiebreakers at the moment. Baker Mayfield had some nice stories to tell the guys at Heisman House, throwing an 11-yard game-winner to Cade Otton with :31 left, although he had only 14 completions, Tampa Bay stayed in the game by running 37 times, 25 of them from Rachaad White, who gained 102 yards and picked up a giant fourth down on the final drive.
– The Falcons’ defense buckled on the day the offense finally realized it had some enviable weapons. Drake London made spectacular grabs on the way to a 10-catch, 172-yard day, and even Kyle Pitts caught a TD pass, only the fifth of his 3-year career. Picked fourth overall in the 2021 draft, Pitts caught passes for 1,026 yards in those 17 games and has 905 yards in the 23 games since.
– Conversely, Mike Evans had only one catch for eight yards. But Carlton Davis intercepted Desmond Ridder to set up a Tampa Bay touchdown, and Antoine Winfield sacked Ridder in the end zone and forced a safety. The Falcons fumbled four times and recovered them all. Tackle Jake Matthews injured his knee, which means his club-record streak of 156 consecutive starts might have ended.
New England 21, Pittsburgh 18
– For the first time since Week 1, the Patriots’ offense scored three touchdowns, and Bailey Zappe was 19 for 28 for all three of those scores, two of them to Hunter Henry. Things changed after halftime, however, and the Patriots punted in five of six possessions. The other possession was an interception. Zeke Elliott was the hardest-working Patriot, with 22 rushes, and seven catches for 72 yards.
– The home crowd, stung by a loss to Arizona last week, was unmerciful toward QB Mitch Trubisky as the Steelers fell behind, 21-3. He did throw a touchdown to Dionte Johnson and had a 1-yard QB sneak, but came up empty on two fourth downs in the fourth quarter. Trubisky, a former second-overall pick in the draft who was subbing for Kenny Pickett, had only six completions.
– The Patriots broke a five-game losing streak to move to 3-10, and their defense has given up only 64 points in their past five games. The Steelers sank to 7-6 and face road games against the Colts, Seahawks and Ravens down the stretch. T.J. Watt suffered a head injury on the second play of the game and had three solo tackles, no sacks, and one tackle for a loss.
New Orleans 28, Carolina 6
– The Panthers gave Bryce Young the type of running game that he’s been needing, with 204 yards on the ground. The rookie QB couldn’t take advantage, missing on 23 of 36 passes and getting only 137 yards in the air. Carolina was 1 for 7 on fourth down as its league-worst record dipped to 1-12.
– Nephi Sewell blocked a punt by Carolina’s Johnny Hekker, and it was returned for a Saints’ touchdown by D’Marco Jackson, creating a 14-3 lead that Carolina did not threaten. Although the Panthers outgained New Orleans by 96 yards and ran 79 plays to the Saints’ 52, they gave up the ball on downs five times in Saints’ territory.
– Derek Carr’s insides have been photographed more than Taylor Swift, but he pulled himself out of the doctor’s office and supervised the win. He found Chris Olave and Jimmy Graham for touchdowns. Forty-four of his 119 net passing yards went to A.T. Perry on one play. The Saints joined the 3-way tie atop the NFC South with a 6-7 record.