The Russell Wilson Comparisons
Justin Fields will try to fight through an injury in an attempt to play against the quarterback he has often studied in the past.
With the Bears playing Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Fields is suffering from an ankle injury he had during the first half of Monday night's 17-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
"I mean, right now, I'm expected to play, but it's really day-by-day," Fields said. "I tweaked it in the second quarter but when you're playing in the game, you got a bunch of adrenaline going on and stuff. So, that's when I first felt it but I was still good enough to play through it.
"Of course, it got worse after the game and the next morning. But it felt better this morning."
Coach Matt Nagy doubts it's a situation where Fields' chance to start for the 11th time will be threatened.
"I don't see it being that way, but again, you always want to be smart and we're gonna be that way, just like we treat every injury with every player," Nagy said. "We'll be more cautious than anything to make sure that every day and every hour that passes that he's feeling better."
Fields wouldn't want to miss any game but especially with a chance to play against Wilson, who the Bears were reported to have pursued in a trade prior to the NFL Draft.
Fields acknowledges his playing style is similar to Wilson's, and he can benefit from watching film of the Seahawks' veteran.
"I think that Russell does a great job of extending plays," Fields said. "Not only him but their receivers they have over there. They have a lot of explosive plays off scrambles. That's one thing you can take away from Russell's game.
"Of course, I've always looked up to him. The kind of person he is on the field and off the field. He's a great quarterback and a great person."
The Bears could only wish Fields would be as effective as a young player as Wilson has been. It hasn't been close.
Wilson debuted with a 100.0 passer rating, 26 touchdown throws to 10 interceptions, led the Seahawks to an 11-5 record and also one playoff win. The next year he led them to the Lombardi Trophy.
Fields has a 73.2 passer rating, is 2-8 as a starter and has seven touchdown passes to 10 interceptions.
Nagy remembered evaluating Wilson in predraft while working for Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles, and noted a big difference was the extended amount of experience Wilson had at playing under center instead of out of the shotgun as Fields had.
"So, that part of the game was different evaluating him versus Justin schematically, but when you look at the player and you look at just who they are, the person, the obsession they have for this game, I mean you talk about two quarterbacks that are winners, you talk about two quarterbacks that just care so much about competing," Nagy said. "And the other thing that I think that you see and I've always seen this about Russell and you're going to continue to see this with Justin is in big-time moments you make big-time plays.
"And I think that's probably the similarities that Justin will end up providing when his career is all said and done because he just has that."
Nagy pointed out a playing trait Fields has now that he borrowed from Wilson.
"The play style, the one thing that I think is kind of funny and it's pretty neat to see is just everybody knows in the football world when Russell is scrambling, and he gets toward the sideline, he always sticks the ball out with one hand," Nagy said. "And in the limited snaps that you all have seen this year with Justin, you can go back and watch when he is on the sideline, I bet you will see something similar.
"So, I think that's something he’s watched tape of him and they do have a similar game but Justin is gonna want to be Justin and I just know he has a lot of respect for Russell."
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