Justin Fields excites once again, but Bears fall to Lions

CHICAGO – How would Justin Fields respond?

That was the big question after the Bears’ QB threw a ghastly fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown and allowed the Detroit Lions to tie Sunday’s game at 24-24 at Soldier Field.

Before that, Fields was having himself a solid day, staking the Bears to a 24-10 lead by throwing a pair of third-quarter TD passes to Cole Kmet.

But that interception was all sorts of ugly -- a desperation flip that sailed over Kmet’s head. Lions CB Jeff Okudah grabbed the ball and raced 21 yards into the end zone with 10:38 remaining.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus had no doubt Fields would punch back.

And that’s exactly what happened as Fields faked a handoff on third-and-2 from his own 33-yard line, squirted through a hole at the line and burst into the secondary.

A host of Lions raced in pursuit, but could not track down their prey. Sixty-seven yards later, Fields had given the Bears a 30-24 lead.

“What you understand about that young man is, man, he’s a fighter,” Eberflus said. “He has the ability -- and you’ve seen it during the course of this year -- to reset. ...

“And then sure enough, third-and-(2) -- boom -- there he goes. That’s just him. He’s a fighter through and through.”

The stadium-rocking run probably should have been the TKO.

But we’ve seen this movie before -- and the Bears are no Rocky.

The bloodied Lions (3-6) rose from the mat and prevailed 31-30, thanks in large part to an eight-play, 92-yard drive that ended in a 1-yard TD run by Jamaal Williams with 2:24 remaining.

Fields had one last chance, but he was sacked on second and fourth downs to essentially end the suspense.

“Him continuing to do what he’s doing ... is amazing,” said safety Eddie Jackson. “It’s a sight to see -- just to see his growth as a leader, as a player (and) putting this thing on his back. ...

“It just eats me up inside (that) we’re just not helping -- especially myself. I want to go out there and make every play if I can. We’ve got to be better on ‘D’, man.”

True, but we all understand the defense is playing short-handed. That unit actually played well at times, with Jack Sanborn getting two sacks and recording a game-high 12 tackles, Joe Thomas breaking up two passes, and Nicholas Morrow recording three tackles for loss.

The defense’s biggest failure came when Detroit faced third-and-8 from their own 42 with 3:14 remaining. Coordinator Alan Williams called for a blitz, but nobody got to Jared Goff and the Lions QB hit Tom Kennedy for 44 yards.

“Got to make a play faster,” Jackson said.

For the third straight time at Soldier Field, Fields had the ball in the final two minutes with a chance to tie the game or lead the Bears (3-7) to victory. He’s now 0-for-3, which WR Darnell Mooney can’t believe.

“In practice, I’m telling you, we kill it,” Mooney said of the two-minute drill. “It’s literally effortless. I don’t know what’s going on.”

One thing that’s going on is Fields continuing to rewrite the NFL record book. His 549 rushing yards in the last five games are more than any QB over that span in the Super Bowl era. He’s a scary sight in the open field, which should have the entire city of Chicago thoroughly excited for the future.

It’s difficult to grade his maturation as a passer because his run-of-the mill receivers are changing every week. Against the Lions, Eberflus used Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Chase Claypool, Byron Pringle and Dante Pettis.

N’Keal Harry and rookie Velus Jones Jr. were inactive.

Fields completed 12-of-20 passes for 167 yards, 50 of which came when Kmet found himself wide open late in the third quarter.

Fields vowed to learn from the costly pick-6, calling it a “dumb play.”

“I can assure you that will never happen for the rest of my career,” Fields added. “Just a screen, D-end sniffed it out. (I) tried to move him a little bit and tried to float it over to Cole. Just overthrew it.”

Fields came to the podium with a bandage on his ear and told us he was cut on the Lions’ final sack.

“I’m hurting pretty bad,” Fields said. “Just my legs are kind of sore.”

The rest of the team was hurting as well because -- rebuilding or not -- it sucks to lose.

Down the road, though, Eberflus believes they’ll all be better for days like this.

“I’ll tell ya what they are getting -- is perseverance. Determination,” Eberflus said. “That’s what they will get. Everybody is gonna look at this and say, ‘Hey, you lost six out of seven.’ ...

“Well, let’s have winning habits. Make sure you have winning habits every single day ... which they do. They practice hard, they’re doing the right thing. ...

“They’ve got to have their eyes forward ... and move forward to the next game. It will eventually crack -- if we keep having winning habits and doing things the right way and executing in the critical moments -- it will crack.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20221113/fields-responds-to-gaffe-but-bears-still-fall-31-30-to-lions