Nine Sacks and an Injured Hand for Justin Fields
Justin Fields said he wasn't used to this.
No one ever gets used to that kind of football.
The Bears offense struggled from start to finish Sunday in Fields' first start and he didn't handle constant pressure well in a 26-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
"You know, I'm not used to this," Fields said. "I don't like feeling like this."
Cleveland's defense dominated from start to finish in the rookie quarterback's starting debut and eventually the Browns' offense wore down the Bears on defense.
"It's all about how you bounce back," Bears guard Cody Whitehair said. "You can't let this trickle over into multiple games."
If it does, they might not have Fields for many more games. He absorbed nine sacks. As it was, he needed an X-ray of his throwing hand because he hurt it during the process.
For all the talk of a new era in Bears offense, they had 1 net passing yard.
Fields either held the ball too long or had no time to throw. The Browns' nine sacks included a personal best 4 1/2 by Myles Garrett.
Fields finished 6 of 20 for 68 yards.
"I think that Justin handled everything really well," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "I think he did a really good job of staying calm and composed with the sacks that he took.
"He never once got frustrated or angry and that's tough in that situation and I'm proud of him for that."
The final stat sheet provided a frightening tale.
They were outgained on the day, 418 yards to 47
Their 1 net passing yard was the lowest figure by the Bears since Nov. 22, 1981, when they had minus-20 yards against Detroit in a 23-7 loss.
They had one third-down conversion in 11 tries and their average per play was 1.1 yards. They lost the time-of-possession battle 39:34-20:26.
The nine sacks represented the most by a Bears quarterback since Jay Cutler took a beating of nine sacks in an October, 2010 loss to the New York Giants.
When the Bears got the break of a questionable 48-yard pass interference penalty in the third quarter, the yardage surpassed their entire total offensive yards to that point and then ultimately for the entire game. The 47 yards was the ninth lowest total in NFL history.
"I was talking to Nick (Foles) and Andy (Dalton) on the sideline," Fields said. "You know, it's football. You have these days. You've just got to bounce back, come back better."
The defense kept the Bears in the game into the second half even with lack of offense, and for a while without Khalil Mack. After Mack picked up a sack, he left with a foot injury but later returned.
The Bears actually led 3-0 after a Cairo Santos 47-yard field goal. He later made a 22-yarder in the third quarter to get them within 13-6 following the questionable Browns pass interference.
But Cleveland continued relentless pressure on Fields and put it out of reach with a Kareem Hunt 29-yard scoring burst off right tackle, then Chase McLaughlin field goals of 52 and 28 yards.
The Browns had taken the lead in the second quarter for good with an 89-yard drive just before halftime to Austin Hooper's 13-yard TD catch on a throw from Baker Mayfield.
Worn down by game's end, the defense gave up 215 rushing yards, including 84 by Nick Chubb and 81 by Hunt.
Mayfield threw for 246 yards on 19 of 31.
"I feel like right now with our defense the way they were fighting against a good team like they did today, they gave us an opportunity to be in there to win the game and we just didn't do enough," Nagy said.
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