GREEN BAY, Wis. — In the full-scale, long-range evaluation of Bears quarterback Justin Fields, a single game against the Packers to end the season is merely a sliver of the pie chart. As the team goes into an offseason at a critical quarterback junction with the No. 1 pick in hand, the book on Fields was nearly full before he arrived at Lambeau Field.
But it was a chance for him to leave a lasting image in general manager Ryan Poles’ mind, and that snapshot looked like many others before it: Fields gave a mediocre performance and the Bears lost 17-9 to the Packers in what might’ve been his final game with the team.
It wasn’t that Fields sunk them, but more so that he didn’t do enough to steer the Bears out of their slide in this rivalry as he fell to 0-6 against the Packers. The Packers have beaten the Bears 10 consecutive times, matching the longest streak in a series that began over a century ago.
Even with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers long gone, it’s still bleak for the Bears. Jordan Love owned them this season, too, and propelled the Packers to the playoffs with the victory. The Bears will sit home at 7-10.
No matter how many good pieces they’ve put in place during their rebuild, they’re still looking up at the Packers — and the Lions are ahead of them both in the NFC North. Poles’ mission to “take the North and never give it back” won’t truly launch until he has a quarterback who can pilot it.
The Packers certainly seem to have their man in Love, who nearly led the NFL in touchdown passes with 32. That’s more in a season than any Bears quarterback has ever had in, but not good enough to crack the Packers’ top 10.
Love torched the Bears for the second time this season, playing nearly perfectly with 27-for-32 passing, 316 yards and two touchdown passes for a 128.6 passer rating. He threw three touchdown passes and put up a 123.2 passer rating at Soldier Field in the opener.
Love made one mistake Sunday, losing a fumble at midfield on a scramble late in the third quarter, but Fields and the Bears didn’t do much with it. They got to the Packers’ 17-yard line, and rookie cornerback Carrington Valentine dropped a would-be interception in the end zone on third-and-10. The Bears settled for the third field goal of the game.
Fields completed 11 of 16 passes for 148 yards with no touchdowns or turnovers for a 97.9 passer rating and rushed eight times for 27 yards. He didn’t break 100 yards passing until the fourth quarter.
As has often been the case, he struggled with pocket awareness and took five sacks, whereas Love’s internal clock ticked with precision despite steady pressure from the Bears’ defensive front.
It was Fields’ 25th start out of 38 in which he threw for fewer than 200 yards. It also was his 31st with fewer than 20 completions.
Fields also took a brutal hit from Packers safety Jonathan Owens with 8:50 left that prompted officials to remove him from the game to be checked for a concussion. Fields slid at the end of a seven-yard run, and Owens hit him late and high, causing his head to bang against the ground.
Owens wasn’t flagged, and Fields returned after missing one play.
Fields has progressed, but now Poles must decide whether he sees enough promise in his growth to bet his job on it. He inherited a quarterback who was drafted No. 11 the year before he arrived, then got the No. 1 pick two years in a row, and it’s inexcusable to come out of that sequence without a franchise quarterback.
It’ll be the biggest choice of Poles’ career — far more consequential that whether he retains coach Matt Eberflus, brings back offensive coordinator Luke Getsy or any moves he makes at other positions.
