Justin Fields Out for Bears in Week 18, Nathan Peterman to Start
Justin Fields will not play in the Bears’ season finale against the Vikings on Sunday due to a hip injury he suffered during Chicago’s 41–10 loss to the Lions on New Year’s Day.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters Wednesday that Nathan Peterman will be the Bears’ signal caller, bringing Fields’s 2022 season to an end. Following the loss on Sunday, Fields revealed in the news conference that he suffered the hip injury in the first half on a “roll-out play.”
“I kind of got tackled weird too where my hip kind of got twisted up, so I felt fine afterwards, just got it stretched out and worked on a little bit,” Fields said after the game. Fields’s MRI revealed that he suffered a hip strain.
Eberflus also said that the injury to Fields is not a long-term one. But, even if Chicago would have been in the fight for a playoff spot this week, Fields would have been held out.
The 23-year-old will end his season only 64 yards shy of eclipsing Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s single-season rushing record. This season, Fields has thrown for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while rushing for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns.
