Bears Solo Act Fails to Finish

No quarterback in an NFL regular-season game ever ran for more yards than Justin Fields did on Sunday at Soldier Field.

The 178 yards rushing with a 61-yard TD and three passing TDs failed to get Fields and the Bears what they really wanted, though, and that was to avoid a fifth loss in six games.

The Bears fell 35-32 to Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins despite Fields' big rushing game, an effort he achieved on only 15 carries to best the mark set by Michael Vick of 173 yards 20 years ago.

"Obviously on offense, you know, quarterback was really amazing today," coach Matt Eberflus said.

The Bears ran for 252 yards on 40 carries and had a chance to win the game or tie in the final two minutes. However, a fourth-down pass from Fields to Equanimeous St. Brown near the sidelines went incomplete near midfield and the rushing record meant little beyond being a footnote in league history

The 61-yard scramble Fields made in the third quarter to pull the Bears within 28-25 did have teammates shaking their heads in amazement afterwards, just the same.

"Just when you see him running and we're, like, running a route, you can kind of tell from his demeanor: All right, just get out of his way, let him do his thing," tight end Cole Kmet said. "On that one touchdown he just blew right past me and I just figured just get out of his way and let him do his thing."

Six of the 10 longest Bears plays in the game were Fields runs. He also broke Bobby Douglass' 50-year-old Bears quarterback rushing record of 127 yards and the longest single run record by a QB of 58 yards by Vince Evans.

"I think I'm just growing and getting better each and every week," Fields said. "My main goal right now is just to continue to do that, to continue to trend up each and every day at practice, just keep getting better and better and better. That's really all you can do."

Fields threw for touchdowns of 18 and 4 yards to Kmet and 16 yards to Darnell Mooney, but the Bears never got the lead back after falling behind 14-10 on a Tyreek Hill 3-yard TD catch in the second quarter.

Then a 25-yard blocked punt return TD by Andrew Van Ginkel on the ensuing Bears possession pushed it to 21-10. The rest of the afternoon was a game of chase.

"I think as a team we've proven that we can put points up with the ball," Fields said. "We're great at running the ball. And in the red zone, I think we've definitely improved on that after that Thursday night game where we couldn't score in the red zone.

"But like I said, just consistent improvement, consistent in just getting better and executing in certain situations."

One would be completing comebacks. They couldn't do it two straight weeks.

The Bears just couldn't catch up, even after Fields' brilliant 61-yard scramble and ensuing conversion pass to Trevon Wesco. That cut it to 28-25 with 11:20 left in the third quarter.

The Dolphins simply went back to work in the passing game with Tagovailoa throwing short to Jeff Wilson and he dove for a 10-yard TD catch. Tagovailoa finished 21 of 30 for 302 yards with three TDs.

It all had the Bears defense feeling a bit guilty after allowing TD drives on four of the Dolphins' first five possesions and seeing their own offense score 94 points in three games, two of those losses.

"You just see what type of player he is," safety Eddie Jackson said of Fields. "You just continue to see him grow week-in, week-out. And the offense as a whole, continuing to come out here and get us 30 points.

"That's something that we've been asking for and we can't continue to let teams come out and score 28 or 35 points on us as a defense. We've got to get them guys help. That was the message on the sideline: We've got to help our offense. We're doing everything we can. We just keep coming up short."

Fields' 4-yard TD pass to Kmet with 11:38 made it a game at 35-32, and the Bears defense finally did rise up in the fourth quarter to force Miami's only two punts.

It was then that Fields' magic no longer worked, as they could move it only 24 and 14 yards on their last two possessions.

"Eventually we've got to execute on that and shine in that position and we will," said wide receiver Darnell Mooney, after seven-catch, 43-yard performance. "We will continue to grow and get more opportunities that way."

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