Justin Fields: “I played like trash” after another lackluster outing, this time in win vs. Houston

CHICAGO – Bears quarterback Justin Fields is seeing the same thing fans are.

The 23-year-old QB finished Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Houston Texans with 106 passing yards and two interceptions to his name.

“I played like trash,” Fields said. “Really just got to be better.”

The Bears won the game on a last-second field goal from kicker Cairo Santos. An interception from linebacker Roquan Smith set up the Bears’ offense deep inside Texans’ territory with just over a minute to play in the game. All the offense had to do was not give away the ball and let Santos knock in a 30-yard field goal for the win.

That was the best-case scenario for a Bears offense that, moments earlier, had a chance to drive down to win the game, but couldn’t pick up a first down. Fields and the offense took over with 3:05 remaining in a tie game. The offense allowed a sack on second down and elected to throw short of the sticks to running back Khalil Herbert on third down.

While the rushing attack was good – like 281 rushing yards good – the passing attack looked much as it did in the first two games of the season. The Bears punted four times and had two drives end in interceptions.

“While he’s going through this, there’s going to be good and there’s going to be things that he has to improve on,” head coach Matt Eberflus said of Fields. “But that’s on the whole football team.”

Fields went 8-for-17 passing for 106 yards and two picks. The Texans sacked him five times and he ran for 47 yards on eight carries. Fields threw two similar-looking interceptions, both picked off by Texans rookie Jalen Pitre.

The first targeted tight end Cole Kmet early in the game, but Fields just missed his man. The second one, early in the fourth quarter, targeted receiver Darnell Mooney, but was thrown into heavy coverage. There were three Texans in the vicinity.

Fields said he was most disappointed by the interceptions.

“That’s one of our keys to victory on offense is 100% ball security,” Fields said. “So the turnover, the incomplete passes, couple throws today – but really just the interceptions, stuff that I can control, I would say.”

In three games this season, the Bears’ season high in net passing yards (passing yards minus sack yards) is 105 in Week 1. They netted just 82 passing yards on Sunday.

Mooney and Kmet were more involved Sunday, simply because they touched the football. Kmet caught two passes for 40 yards and Mooney caught two passes for 23 yards. Kmet had a big catch on third down in the first half.

“We’re just going to keep coming to work every day, keep working at it,” Kmet said. “If we’re able to get the passing game going along with that run game, it’s going to be pretty hard to beat us.”

It’s far too early to have a definitive opinion on the Luke Getsy offense or on Fields as a potential long-term solution at quarterback. But it’s fair to start asking questions after three straight performances of this nature under the new coaching staff.

“It’s always going to be about the football team,” Eberflus said when asked about Fields. “So we are going to develop this whole football team and he is one piece of that, for sure, but as we grow, we have to get better at all spots, pass defense, the whole thing. You keep making steps as we go, we are going to like what we see.”