Justin Fields Looks for the Knockout Punch

Bears quarterback Justin Fields used the "D" word when talking about the team's offense.

That's D as in dominant. But could he really go there after the way the Bears finished Sunday's 31-26 loss to Detroit?

"I just felt like I did a pretty good job of getting the ball to DJ (Moore) and spreading the ball around and protecting myself when I did run the ball and take off," Fields said. "What really stood out is how we stood out as an offense and how dominant we were all game.

"The O-line did a great job prtotecting. Runners did a great job running the ball. Everybody was doing their job. That's what we want to focus on with our offense: Everyone doing their job and all coming together collectively as one, just trying to put our best foot forward and trying to put up points."

The finish was more the product of a faltering Bears defense at game's end, but Fields could have put a nice cap on a 16-of-23 day for 169 yards and a touchdown by completing a deep ball to Tyler Scott to sew up the win in his first game back from a dislocated thumb. They missed connection as the rookie receiver slowed down too much to look back and had a picture-perfect pass fall inches beyond his hands.

"To be honest, I feel like deep balls, just in general, I feel like it's what I do best, to be honest with you," Fields said. "I think I throw the ball down the field exceptionally. It's one of my strengths. I've been doing it since high school, college. I think it's one thing that I do best and one thing that I think we're going to keep doing and get to more."

Facing Minnesota this week gives them a chance at making up for Sunday's finish but also the earlier loss to the Vikings.

"I think for the most part we showed who we were except until the end of the game," he said. "Focus on finishing better and finishing out the game when it counts and when a drive comes up, making that big play when it matters. But we're definitely excited for this opportunity. The Vikings, they have been playing great these past few weeks. Definitely excited for the opportunity we have on Monday night and get to go out there and ball out.”

The Vikings are a different matter. The Bears offense looked like anything but a dominant group against them in the first game. Fields had completed only 6 of 10 for 58 yards by halftime and went out shortly thereafter as the blitzing of coordinator Brian Flores seemed to have every one baffled.

Letting Fields run isn't really an answer against the Vikings blitz the way it was against the Lions last week. It might mean getting the ball out on quicker short passes or wide receiver screens.

“If they bring all-out, yeah, because you don’t really have anywhere to go," Fields said. "You're outnumbered in protection so that's when you get the ball out quick. So that's how you combat that.

"If they bring their all-out Cover-0 pressure you're not going to–unless you completely out-athlete the D-end, set him up one way or the other. But Cover-0 that's not really the answer to beat that is to try and scramble and stuff around. You just want to get the ball out quick and just let the playmakers make plays and work for you."

It also means running up against Vikings edge rusher Danielle Hunter, who was involved in the play when Fields injured his thumb. Hunter has 12 sacks, which is second in the league, and two sacks came against the Bears last time.

"He's a freak athlete on the edge, and just (media) said, he's been doing his thing this year," Fields said. "He's been balling out this year. Definitely got to have a plan for him and just making sure we know where he is at all times.

"I don’t know what he did differently this year than he did last year, but he has been playing exceptionally well this year. So, like I said, we'll have a plan for him and go from there."

Closing is the key, whether it's for Fields or all the other Bears.

"We're doing a lot of good things in a lot of areas of the football game," coach Matt Eberflus said. "To start the game–the run offense, defense, third down offense, defense has been good at times, the situations have been good. It's not been perfect, of course, but it's been improving and it's been better. The guys see that and feel that and you can see that in our games.

"We're having leads on people, and a lot of it is about finishing. The finish part. Well, what is that in the NFL? That's about two-minute offense, two-minute defense, four-minute offense and four-minute defense. You have to do a really good job with that. That's where we have to improve as a football team. Not just Justin. It's us as a group. That’s where I think we take the next step to finishing games and, of course we've done that in some other games, but again we got to do that versus quality opponents."

Sunday will offer another chance at this considering it's the Vikings.

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