Bears QB Overcomes Injuries to Top Targets

For Justin Fields, it turned out to be a much greater challenge than it initially looked to be.

It would be difficult to gather much about Fields as a passer in order to assess his long-term future from his numbers in Sunday's 27-16 win over Arizona.

However, it was easy to see he can improvise. Then again, no one every questioned his ability at this.

Fields top two passing targets, DJ Moore and Cole Kmet left in the first half with injuries and it left Fields without a lot of help aside from his own legs and running back Khail Herbert.

"You just play the play," Fields said. "You can't let who is out there affect you. You've just got to go through your reads, boom, boom, boom, and if it's not there, it's not there. Scramble around, make a play."

It's how Fields ran for 65 yards in the second half but completed only 5 of 10 for 40 yards then as the Bears sought to protect the 21- point lead the surged to in the first half while Kmet was still playing.

More came back from his ankle injury, caught three passes for 18 yards and was obviously affected, but did make a key 7-yard catch to clinch the win. After Moore left on the second play, it was Fields throwing to Kmet for 53 and 29 yards and for four completions all told before his knee injury.

"But yeah, I mean, as a quarterback you can't really worry about who is in and who is out," Fields said.

Fields had one other weapon working for him, too. The offensive line, even without injured guard Teven Jenkins, performed admirably to the tune of 250 yards rushing yards.

"Yeah, the offensive line did a great job," Fields said. "Like I said, in the first quarter we were dominating the run game. I felt like, shoot after I tossed the ball or handed the ball off, Khalil had a lot of space to run. They were like high school out there. I think the Cardinals, they adjusted well in the second half, and there weren't as many big gaps as there were in the first half.

"But O-line did a great job blocking. Khalil, Roschon (Johnson), they did a great job running the ball. Really credit to those guys for working hard and attacking, practice, each and every day like they do."

The 112 rushing yards by Herbert were big throughout but Fields also had an offensive line blocking for him that allowed only one sack for no net yards lost.

Part of the reason for that was his own doing, with his legs.

"You know, just extending plays," Fields said. "Last week they (Cleveland) did a lot of drop-eight stuff, so we were kind of expecting some of that stuff.

"But you know, they (Cardinals) don't have as fast of D-linemen, so I knew I would be able to extend plays and stuff like that. I think that's really it. I told the O-linemen, like, 'yo, we

don't have to hold. Like if they break free, like, they are not

as fast as Myles (Garrett) and the guys we played last week.' "

Arizona's run defense, adjusted in the second half after giving up 117 rushing yards in the first half but Fields and Herbert still found ways to gain and the offensive line still opened holes. The backs provided receptions when rookies Tyler Scott and Velus Jones Jr. didn't get a single catch for the game and Darnell Mooney could contribute only two receptions for 5 yards.

Basically, it was Fields improvising or taking planned runs or Herbert breaking off nice runs. They had runs of 11, 12, 13 and 15 yards from Herbert, who hadn't contributed one of those explosive runs since Oct. 5 when he suffered an ankle injury. Fields' bigger runs included a 10-yarder for a first down and the key 39-yard scramble, a Bears season-long run.

Fields threw and interception in the end zone when they could have simply kicked a field goal to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter but even that play wasn't bothering coach Matt Eberflus much after a third win in four games and sixth in the past 11.

"Yeah, that was a max pressure by those guys," Eberflus said. "So we had two go to the flat and had the guy in the corner. So it was one-on-one coverage, and what the corner did was just slough off. He sloughed off on that to get the corner route to go ahead and take it right there.

"So you (Fields) just have to be able to discern that and read that, and you know, make a good play right there. But the corner made a heck of a play. He just sloughed off and ended up making the play."

Fields made enough use of his top receivers while they were still there to make the difference. His 53-yarder and a 29-yarder to Kmet sparked TD drives.

Kmet beat one-on-one coverage on that play.

"Yeah, that one was a scramble and, you know, you've got a big body on a smaller body and you just throw it up there and he trusts Cole to be able to either ccome down with it or knock it down. And he came up with it. It was a great catch."

When Kmet left, he improvised and found other tight ends. Robert Tonyan Jr. caught a 14-yarder and ancient Marcedes Lewis a 1-yard TD on scramble drill right.

"The guys were excited about that," Eberflus said. "We had that play in and they all start barking when he scores because he's the 'big dog,' and eventually in many ways he is a big human, and he's a great leader, too.

"The guys love him for who he is. He's a special, special guy."

Even if the big plays to the main targets weren't there, Fields did what he needed to do and earned more positive marks from Eberflus.

"Yeah, I see it as progress," Eberflus said. "When you're the winning quarterback on the winning team, that's always good, right? He's been part of that; the last three out of four wins have been coming out of the two-minute, and he's been part of that. I certainly do see progress."

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven