Bears to Start Nathan Peterman vs. Vikings as Justin Fields Deals With Hip Issue

The Vikings won't have to worry about Justin Fields again until the fall. He's dealing with a hip injury, so the Bears announced that they'll start Nathan Peterman at quarterback in Sunday's regular season finale against Minnesota at Soldier Field.

Fields threw for 208 yards and a touchdown, ran for 47 yards, and had a 52-yard rushing touchdown nullified by a penalty in the Bears' competitive Week 5 loss to the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. He has 1,143 rushing yards this season, trailing only 2019 Lamar Jackson for the most by a quarterback in a season in NFL history. Unfortunately, he won't get a chance to break that record this weekend.

It's been an encouraging second season for the No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 draft. In addition to Fields' remarkable rushing numbers — he averaged 95 yards on the ground per game over the past ten games — he also threw for over 2,200 yards and compiled 25 total touchdowns this season. Fields has been sacked more than any other QB in the league, struggled with turnovers, and went 3-12 as a starter, but he's still developing and didn't have much talent around him this year. The future appears to be bright for the Ohio State product.

Instead of facing Fields, the Vikings will be going against one of the least successful backup quarterbacks of the last decade. Peterman has just 11 pass attempts since 2018, but managed to throw an interception this season on one of his six attempts. He famously threw five picks in one half against the Chargers as a member of the Bills in 2017, then had three more multi-INT games during the 2018 season. For his career, Peterman has completed just over 50 percent of his passes with 3 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

It'll be interesting to see if Peterman starting changes the Vikings' plans. Kevin O'Connell said earlier this week that he wasn't planning on resting starters with the No. 2 seed still in play for Minnesota. The Vikings have been managing some veterans' reps for a few games now, and O'Connell said changes to playing time would be more subtle than things like sitting players Kirk Cousins or Justin Jefferson.

We'll see if he sticks with that plan. The Vikings are almost certainly locked into the No. 3 seed, as it would be a massive upset if the Cardinals, losers of six straight, beat the 49ers, winners of nine straight, as 14.5-point road underdogs. With Peterman starting, the grass at Soldier Field having a reputation as sub-par, and the first round of the playoffs coming a week later, it would seem to make sense for the Vikings to be very careful with some of their key players.

You'd imagine the Vikings could play plenty of backups and still find a way to beat a 3-13 Bears team that has Peterman at QB and its eyes on the No. 1 pick (which is in reach for Chicago if the Texans were to win this weekend).

O'Connell wants his team to bounce back from a poor performance in Green Bay and take some positive momentum into the postseason, but the Vikings can't afford any more critical injuries on Sunday. We'll see how he balances things and if Peterman starting changes the approach at all.

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