Passing Emphasis for Justin Fields

The Bears want to protect Justin Fields more from harm by running him less but there are limits on a football field to how much they can do.

The Bears found ways to protect Justin Fields, even though there are limits to what they can do.

The shoulder separation Sunday didn't seem an issue after the game. He didn't even take a pain-killing shot.

The offensive line protected him and the coaches did, as well. He even did a good job protecting himself for a change by sliding.

The Bears gave up no sacks Sunday for the first time this season. In fact, they hadn't given up less than two sacks in any game before then, but they protected their quarterback like the valuable commodity he seems to be.

Keeping Fields free of damage wasn't all on an offensive line that had Alex Leatherwood blocking for 10 plays in place of right tackle Riley Reiff on Sunday.

Some of it was the play calling and game plan. Fields only had to run six times. During the previous five games, after switching to a run-heavy offense for their QB, Fields averaged 13.6 runs a game.

"Yeah, I think the way the game was going, I think we were passing it so good, I think we were just going with that more," coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday as Bears bye week began. "I think that was the right thing to do."

Fields had a season-high 254 yards passing.

Fields' sliding or going out of bounds is what coaches had expected all along, but at times the competitive side has gotten the best of him.

"I know we had the designed counter, we all saw that play," Eberflus said. "That was nice where he slid down right before the first (down). He's got to do a good job there. I thought he did a nice job of that."

They found different ways to take carries off his plate.

"We ended up using a couple wildcat plays because we are trying to go with that in the future to take some off hits off of Justin," Fields said. "I think that's a good idea in normal down situations. Because Justin is going to take the plays when he can, of course, but we want to use him in situations. 

"You know, red zone, third down, two-minute, when the game is there where it needs to be to keep drives a live and score points. He did a good job all day with that."

So based on what the Bears did Sunday, it sounds as if they're planning to keep Fields' rushes down until season's end. His six runs Sunday was a season low.

"I've said from the beginning for several weeks now, we want to be very protective of Justin to make sure he is out of harm's way," Eberflus said. "That is either being smart by him working to the sideline, working out of bounds, sliding correctly.

"Or things like that, different designs that we might give our halfback, or you saw we did the thing to Velus (Jones Jr.) where Velus had a toss sweep and all that. It's good to spread the skill around and utilize it when we need in those situations."

That doesn't mean they'll completely take away his ability to run.

After seeing him go off the right edge and cut up the middle of the field untouched for 55 yards and a touchdown, that would seem to make less sense than reducing his runs.

"I mean, it takes a special person to not get touched running up the middle," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said.

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