Justin Fields Finds the Closing Formula

As the leader he is, Justin Fields had a few words of warning for Roschon Johnson after the rookie running back fumbled and center Lucas Patrick retained possession for the Bears late in Monday night's 12-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Oops.

Fate intervened and Fields received a test of his mettle unlike many even he's had to face in a career constantly being questioned over lack of victories.

Fields was then the one fumbling, and he did it twice. But then he rallied the Bears when it counted most and could enjoy the first Bears NFC North win since Matt Nagy's last team beat the Lions on Thanksgiving, even while also becoming the first NFL team to win without scoring a touchdown this year.

"I mean first off, I can't fumble," Fields said. "You need better ball security on that."

He had been telling Johnson not to lose the ball with 12:32 left and the Bears at the Vikings 35 after the fumble Patrick fell on, with the Bears close enough to rely on Cario Santos' leg for a 12-3 lead. Instead, four plays after his advice, it was Fields fumbling at the Minnesota 23 as he stepped up while Danielle Hunter went for the ball.

The Vikings quickly took advantage of the momentum supplied by a takeaway to take the lead. Then Fields compounded it by scrambling 6 yards at his own 43 and fumbling again, this time on a Josh Metellus open-field hit on the ball.

"It's crazy because Roshon, he fumbled a play or two before I fumbled on the first one so Im like, I'm telling him, 'you know ball sefurity is the most important thing right now,'" Fields said. "Then (a few) plays later I fumble. Then the second was like a backbreaker.

"But guys never wavered. I told the guys in the locker room I appreciaed them for sticking beside me and believing in me. The defense did a great job getting us the ball back for that last drive. The offense did a great job of executing those plays."

Coach Matt Eberflus was able to forgive the turnovers after experiencing his first divisional win as coach.

"I know that he had two hands on the ball," he said of the first fumble. "I think it was just a good play by the defensive man. He was trying to evade and get into the open space and he had two hands on that one. I didn't see the second one.

"But it means a lot for him to be able to come back from that and then seal the deal with that great in-cut that he therw to DJ."

Moore caught that one for 36 yards on the final Bears march to set up the win

"That's a play we run all the time," Fields said. "In practice we ve been running that play since I can remember.

"Really the only player that was in the middle there was really 44 Mettellus and he had no idea where DJ was."

Fields ran twice and hit Moore for 16 another time on the drive.

"Even prior to that (36-yarder) there was a lot of good things," Eberflus said. "No sacks in that moment, being able to throw the ball away, evade the rush when guys were not open."

It wasn't quite a defining moment for Fields because of his own foul-ups. But after so many times failing to win at the end of a one-score game since Week 3 last year, he finally got the job done and it could say plenty for his future.

Last week's progress was consistency, Monday's was resiliency.

He's avoiding looking so far ahead and thinking about it.

"I'm just taking it day by day, where am I am, I'm right here I guess," he said.

He'll stick in the safety of the now, at least for the moment.

"I'm just taking it day by day, just trying to get better each and every day, learn from my mistakes and really just be the best I can be for this team."

Who he was Monday probably wasn't his best but he was a winning quarterback after a 27 of 37 effort for 217 yards and 59 rushing yards.

He hasn't been able to say this much in the past.

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