It wasn’t even the final two minutes, let alone the fourth quarter.
In Sunday’s 28-13 win over the Detroit Lions, Justin Fields demonstrated yet another sign of development: the ability to do what an NFL quarterback needs to do to win close games. He used his arm, legs, brains, and mouth to accomplish this.
Fields used his cadence to coax the Detroit Lions into the kind of dumb play the Bears have been making in recent years, then hit DJ Moore in stride for a 38-yard touchdown pass to break a 13-13 tie.
“It’s Justin,” said Bears coach Matt Eberflus. “This is the difficult count. He did an excellent job of hard counting and overall performance, and they got them to jump. He employs cadence. That’s exactly what it was.”
Getting the Lions to commit an offsides penalty like this must have been a difficult count.
The Bears faced fourth-and-13 at the Lions 38, with the wind blowing from the southeast, favoring a field goal attempt. Even so, 55 or 56 yards on a 28-degree day is a tall order for Cairo Santos in a 13-13 tie.
So they tried to pull the Lions offsides for a long time, with everyone on the line of scrimmage and Fields hollering out all kinds of things like Peyton Manning used to do or Aaron Rodgers has done so many times over the years. Even if they couldn’t get a first down, that extra 5 yards on a penalty could make all the difference on a long field goal.
But no one would actually fall for it, would they? There was no need to be tense because it was fourth down and long.
Aidan Hutchinson usually doesn’t need help getting to Fields, but this time he became the buffoon who jumped the gun despite the obvious nature of what the Bears were doing, and he gave them a free pass. Fields threw the 38-yard TD pass on a freebie, so the Ohio State guy got the Michigan guy on that one.
It worked because the Bears had been experimenting with what to do with free throws.
“I mean, it’s not a challenge because we practice it multiple times a week,” Fields went on to say. “It’s nothing new to us. Possibly three times this week during practice and walk-throughs.”
In walk-throughs, people are jumping offsides? Perhaps everyone is exaggerating the intensity of the Bears’ preparations.
“Like I said, we practice it,” Fields explained. “It happens every week, and the guys are prepared, and we execute.” It turned out to be a big play.”
The extra point was blocked, but the game took a complete 180-degree turn after that when Lions QB Jared Goff couldn’t get a clean snap from center and T.J. Edwards recovered it to set up an 11-yard TD scramble by Fields on another play with long odds of conversion. Fields saw no receiver on third-and-goal but got outside containment on the right and went straight for the pylon and a 22-13 lead.
“I mean, when I kind of stepped to the right a little bit,” Fields went on to say. “All I saw was green grass.” I was looking for DJ to throw because we were one-on-one in the back corner, but I looked down and saw green grass right there, so I just ran.”
Fields didn’t have to work as hard on Moore’s first-quarter touchdown for the Bears. Moore took the wildcat snap, with Fields lined up at wide receiver on the left. Moore impersonated an end-around for Fields and kept it for himself. Fields was pursued by everyone.
“I was having tunnel vision on it,” Moore admitted. “I saw everybody hit their right blocks so I knew this was an automatic touchdown.”
He walked 16 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
“I’m so glad Luke (Getsy) called that play,” he went on to say.
They’d used it against Dallas the previous year, but he was pumped for another reason.
“My job is just to fake the end around so they think we’re going to do a trick play or something, but great blocking.” I believe DJ simply walked in, untouched. Excellent play and blocking up front.”
Fields pulled off a good fake, but there was another reason he was glad his offensive coordinator dialed up the trick play.
“I was excited because I was tired,” he told me. “I was only excited for that reason.” I just did my job, faked the little handoff, took a breather, and then he scored, which made it even better.
“I mean, yeah, I just treat it like any other game and do my job.” It could be a big play or it could not. The most important thing is going out on that play and doing your job, and everyone did their job, and it worked out.”
Fields had a successful day as well, going 19-for-33 for 223 yards and a touchdown pass, as well as 58 yards rushing and a touchdown run. He was less convinced.
“There were a few throws I missed, that dagger to DJ (Moore over the middle), I’m still sick about that one late in the game,” Fields said of a wide-open throw he threw about 5 feet too high. “There were multiple plays during the game where we could have executed better.”
A pass to Darnell Mooney also fell short, but the Bears couldn’t be too upset. They discovered more about their quarterback’s skills as a passer, runner, faker, and signal caller.
“But end all, we won the game, and still room to get better, so that’s just the hope for the future,” Fields went on to say.
It’s a brighter future as the game progresses.
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