Frustration Level Up for Justin Fields

Red zone failures led to rare emotional comments after the game, as Matt Eberflus tried to refocus his QB.

Justin Fields' frustration showed after Thursday night's particularly aggravating 12-7 Bears defeat by the Washington Commanders.

Three trips into the red zone without a single point can test the patience of almost any quarterback.

"Everyone is feeling this way, everybody's mad," Fields said after the loss. "Nobody is happy about this loss. We always get told 'we're almost there,' 'we're almost there.' Me, personally, I'm tired of being almost there. I'm tired of being just this close.

"I feel like I've been hearing it for so long now. But you know, at the end of the day we just have got to get back to work. That's the only reaction you have. Then you learn and we'll be back next weekend and try to be better."

It was a rare emotional outburst from the player former coach Matt Nagy once dubbed a "stoic." 

Somehow this was not pass interference in the end zone on 3rd and goal, the Bears lost the game on the next play #TNF pic.twitter.com/lZkZX32584

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) October 14, 2022

Red zone embarrassment can make you see red. Still, the Bears hadn't necessarily struggled in general within the red zone over the course of the season. They came into the game 7 of 12 and tied for 13th in the NFL in scoring touchdowns within the red zone. 

It's just that two games earlier they had gone 0-for-3 on TD attempts and settled for field goals. Thursday they weren't even getting field goals. So they're 2-for-8 in the last three games, and that is struggling. And perhaps it's a reason for extra emotion.

"The drives he had, I know we didn’t punch 'em in, but we got down there," coach Matt Eberflus said on Friday. "Get the ball down there and some amazing plays that he made with his feet.

"He threw the ball on time. Didn’t have quite the passer rating he had before because just for whatever reason, taking sacks and all those things and not getting rid of the ball. But he made some amazing plays. I told him that everything's looking positive and just to keep his eyes forward."

Eberflus didn't want to blame the play calling for the failures, particularly on the final drive. They threw four straight times but he admitted there was time to run it once with 50 seconds remaining.

On earlier trips inside the red zone, they had a fourth-and-1 run by Khalil Herbert stopped inches short and a Fields pass deflect off a helmet into the air before it was picked off by Jonathan Allen at the 5.

Then came the final pass to Darnell Mooney on fourth-and-goal at the 5 was bobbled at the goal line by Mooney slightly, before he gained control outside the end zone without scoring.

On that play, Montgomery came wide open on the left side but Fields threw to the right side to Mooney, who was covered tightly by Benjamin St-Juste.

"Montgomery is the fifth read on that play, so in reality if I'm being realistic there's a 5% chance you're going to get that," Fields said. "So if he's the last read I'm not going to (him).

"It's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. He's the last read on that. Mooney was open. Like I said before, we've just got to finish."

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While Fields was clearly frustrated afterward, Mooney was disconsolate.

"At the end of the day, that last play, I had an opportunity to make a play, whatever happened in the past, the first quarter, second quarter, it doesn't matter," Mooney said. "We had a play. It came down to it, just catch the damn ball."

Mooney said he had done something similar in a game last year at Minnesota, although not in a last-play situation.

The fact he couldn't haul it in doesn't diminish Fields' feelings toward his favorite target.

"If my boy is open, I have full trust in him," Fields said. "Anybody, anybody on the rest of the team, I don't care if it's a practice squad guy, I don't care if it's Mooney, anybody.

"If I'm out there with them, I'm going to put my full trust in them. If they make a mistake, they make a mistake. Just move on."

And so it was Fields being urged to move on by Eberflus on Friday after the loss, but not being urged to reduce the passion level he showed during the postgame comments.

"This game, you have to play with passion," Eberflus said. "You have to play with emotion, you have to do that to play it the right way. You just do.

"And you have to put yourself out there, and every time you play this game, a piece of you is left on the football field. It's just the way it is."

So Eberlus was thankful for the 24-hour rule they stick to, in which they forget about it all a day later.

"You've got to reset and decompress a little bit and then move forward to the next performance," Eberflus said. "I think that’s an important thing for everyone to realize, not just the quarterback."

Otherwise, that would be a long time to stew in their own juices. They don't play again until Oct. 24 at New England.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven