Bears quarterback Justin Fields did little to change his own narrative Sunday — except win the game. His impressive running, inconsistent passing and fourth-quarter struggles still somehow resulted in a 27-16 victory against the woeful Cardinals.
Upon further review, here’s a look at Fields’ highs and lows:
The full Fields
It was the full Fields experience: an otherworldly scramble followed by a turnover.
The Cardinals spied Fields on third-and-10 with about 11 minutes to play — and he ran for 39 yards anyway, after scrambling right, pump-faking and eventually sliding at the 14.
On the next play, though, he did what he absolutely couldn’t do with a 14-point lead: throw an interception. He took a shotgun snap and looked left, where running back Khalil Herbert ran a corner route out of the backfield and into the end zone.
Fields let it fly. Safety Jalen Thompson sunk off tight end Robert Tonyan in the flat and jumped for the pick.
“He sloughed off on that to get the corner route to go ahead and take it,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “So you just have to be able to discern that and read that, and you know, make a good play right there.”
Fields said that he left too much air under the ball. He said he should have zipped the ball to Herbert.
Fields’ big-picture problem, though, hasn’t been solved all year. He has nine interceptions this season — including six in the fourth quarter, which is tied for the most in the NFL. He says he knows better.
“Just gotta be extra careful down there,” Fields said. “We are up 14 points already, and 17 points would have made it a three-score game. Definitely gotta just not turn the ball over.”
The wrong and short of it
A week after offensive coordinator Luke Getsy got too cute on short-yardage plays against the Browns, he did it again. The Bears faced third-and-two or shorter five times against the Cardinals and were stuffed twice — first on an incomplete pass in the first quarter and then on a direct snap to rookie Roschon Johnson in the fourth.
With 5:18 to play and the Bears up eight, Getsy lined up Johnson to Fields’ right in the shotgun, then had the quarterback step forward to give a couple dummy blocking calls and drift in motion right. Johnson took the snap and ran up the middle, where he was stuffed by Thompson. The safety slipped inside of Tonyan, who pulled between the right guard and tackle and blocked no one.
“I like that play call,” Fields said. “We just got to block it better and execute it better. It’s that simple.”
Even when it works, it’s baffling. On third-and-goal from the 1 midway through the second quarter, Getsy had Fields, who was under center, fake a handoff up the middle to Johnson and an end-around to Darnell Mooney. He rolled right and eventually found Marcedes Lewis — a 39-year-old who has averaged 10 catches a year over the last six years — for a touchdown.
That’s a lot of work for a yard.
Going deep
On the first play of the Bears’ second drive, Kmet lined up next to the right tackle and ran a vertical route that broke past the left hash marks. He was all alone with Thompson in front of him. Kmet slowed down and dove back toward the quarterback to catch the ball at the 21.
“[Thompson] was just panicking there,” Fields said. “He wasn’t even looking back at me. I looked up, gave Cole a shot and he came down with it.”
The 53-yard completion was Fields’ third-longest of the season. The other two came in Week 5.
“It just takes so much time, and then you have to body the guy that’s next to you to be able to get yourself in position,” Eberflus said. “[Kmet] did a wonderful job with that.”
