Hip Injury Cited as Problem for Bears QB
Quarterback Justin Fields' season has come to an end due to a hip injury suffered in Sunday's Bears loss at Detroit.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Fields had an MRI after reporting hip soreness Monday and the result was a hip strain. The injury is not considered long-term, although Fields wouldn't be able to practice this week or play the season finale against Minnesota.
"Like I said, it's not long-term but he's just not able to go full speed," Eberflus said. "I asked him how it was today and he said it's still real sore."
Nathan Peterman will make his first Bears start against Minnesota.
The situation naturally will lead to skepticism about whether the Bears are taking the finale seriously, especially because they have a chance to take the second spot in the draft and an outside shot at the first pick. They pick first if they lose and Houston wins at Indianapolis.
Also, Fields did play earlier after only one week away with a separated left shoulder, an injury which is still bothering him. Fields did say after Sunday's game that he had some sort of hip injury occur in the game.
"Well, I would just go back to our normal operating procedure," Eberflus said. "So what is it? It's the medical staff. So he didn't clear that (first) hurdle. So if he'd have cleared that hurdle, then we'd have to go to the next one, which is the coaches.
"Is he functioning the way he can function to protect himself, right? Then it's the player. Does he feel good about doing that? So he didn't clear the first one. So, that's just where it is."
There will be a postseason assessment by Eberflus on Fields yet but he did have a preliminary talk with the Bears quarterback about the future.
'And again, I want more time to be able to p process that and go through it with the coaches and with him, so we can have a detailed played for him going into the offseason, for sure," Eberflus said.
However, there are some general areas he wants Fields to focus on going forward.
"Just much of what I've said over the course of the season," Eberflus said. "Just the rhythm and timing of it, being able to ride the pocket and deliver the ball down the field. But there;s a lot of nuances to that. There's a lot of detail to that."
Who Fields had to play with on offense is a factor in assessments.
"I think that he did make improvement, though," Eberflus said. "You could see where he improved. The scoring offense was hitting on all cylinders midway or a little bit past that.
"I think that he had a lot of lineup changes with the receivers and offensive line and the running back going out and all those things. But that certainly is impactful to the offense. So you have to be able to look at that."
This means Fields will fail to break the rushing record for quarterbacks held by Lamar Jackson of 1,206 yards. Fields needed 64 yards to break the record.
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