Lions Defense Finally Corrals Justin Fields

Justin Fields had blood coming from the back of his right ear and a couple of stitches closed it up.

His legs hurt afterward from all the running he did and, no doubt, some of the shots he took in the process.

He kept coming, but in the end his own mistake and some others by teammates let the Detroit Lions leave with their first road win since 2020, 31-30.

"Yeah, there was just a gash in the back

of my ear, so it was dripping pretty bad, so I had to get a couple of stitches in the back of my ear," Fields said. "Other than that,

I'm fine."

Oh, and then there were the legs.

"Yeah, I'm hurting pretty bad, not really

from hits but just my legs are kind of sore," Fields said. "But other than

my legs being sore and of course my ear, I'm fine."

Well, not exactly fine. He'd have felt better without that interception he sent to Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah when he was trying to find Cole Kmet. It was the touchdown that let the Lions tie the game after they'd been down 24-10 going into the fourth quarter.

Fields said he shook that interception off immediately, even though he vowed it would never happen again.

"I mean, just can't do anything about the past," Fields said. "Just kind of been my mindset. It's just what can you do now? Yeah, that happened; so what?

"So there's a lot of ups and downs throughout the game, a lot of flags that were called that we can't control, but can't do anything like that, so really just controlling what you can control and just

moving on from that point."

It's not so easy to dismiss that interception and accept he won't force the ball into coverage for no reason again because he did it the previous week. He was picked off by Xavien Howard of the Dolphins on a pass that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said never should have been thrown.

"So, at the end of the day, we bottled him up enough and forced him to have to stay in there and make some plays. That's hard for him to do. He wants to get out of there and start moving around and break contain, eyes downfield."

-Lions coach Dan Campbell on Justin Fields

Fields did throw the ball better than that one interception, though. He hit Cole Kmet wide open off a play-action fake for a 50-yard TD, and also in the red zone for a TD earlier as the Bears built their lead.

The pick was a cruel fate since Okudah is a former Ohio State teammate. And Okudah delivered a one-liner that really zinged to the heart of what the Bears have been trying to do on offense.

"I don't think he used to run in college. And now it's like he's got some nice speed," Okudah said.

Or could it be that the Bears offensive line isn't good enough to protect Fields so he has to run, or that he is holding the ball too long and the defense is coming, so he has to run.

Still, that doesn't explain a scintillating 67-yarder he broke on third-and-1 to get the lead back after his pick-6.

So where was all of Fields' speed when the Bears got the ball back with over two minutes left and all their timeouts to try and get into field goal range? That is, provided Cairo Santos could make a field goal after he had missed a critical extra point.

The Lions had seen enough of Fields running and decided to change tactics on the final Bears possession. They shut it down with a sack on fourth down after the Bears only moved it to their own 32.

"So, at the end of the day, we bottled him up enough and forced him to have to stay in there and make some plays," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "That's hard for him to do. He wants to get out of there and start moving around and break contain, eyes down field.

"So we did what we needed to do and guys showed up. They stayed true to it. Even though we got hurt on a couple of plays, they stayed true to it."

There was no reason for the Lions to worry about the run from anyone other than Fields at that point in the game, so they played pass defense and the front seven confined Fields to the pocket. They had Fields running around in circles within the pocket, looking for an exit.

The Lions, on the other hand, had little problem in the fourth quarter moving it downfield into position for their winning points. Jared Goff completed four passes for 84 yards in a 91-yard drive, including a 44-yarder to Tom Kennedy of all people.

He did it from the pocket, just the way most of the other quarterbacks have who beat the Bears in their current stretch of seven losses in eight games. He didn't have blood oozing out of his ear or complain about sore legs.

There could be a lesson to be learned here for the Bears braintrust and a young passer who is a fantastic runner, even if he didn't do it college much.

It might explain why the Bears are having so much trouble on offense finishing games.

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