Matt Eberflus will cling to this mystery as long as he can.
In the hopes of keeping the Jets guessing about their starting quarterback for Sunday, the Bears didn’t give any clues as to whether it’ll be Justin Fields or Trevor Siemian. Eberflus said he didn’t know and that it will be a game-time decision, but it’s much more likely he’s merely maintaining secrecy.
“Justin’s status is the same… He’s able to do a lot of things,” he said. “He’s been doing good in there.”
Eberflus has been insistent all season that this gives the Bears a competitive advantage, though they’re still sitting near the bottom of the NFL at 3-8 so it’s unclear exactly what has been gained by it.
Fields hurt his left (non-throwing) shoulder near the end of the Falcons game and has been limited in practice all week. The Bears are listing him as questionable, the murkiest of game status designations. If he’s out, Siemian would make his first start of the season and the Bears would promote Nathan Peterman from the practice squad as backup.
Now that Fields has established himself as the best running quarterback in the NFL and the Bears have structured their offense to maximize that ability, switching to Siemian — he had ran for a career-high 23 yards in a 2016 game — would cut the playbook down considerably.
Fields seemed optimistic about playing despite the separated shoulder causing him pain every time he threw or handed the ball off. He also said it was impossible to predict what hits he might take or how painful it would be. He planned to get a painkiller shot Sunday morning.
The Bears must accept that this is part of the deal when a team builds around a dual-threat quarterback. While the rules are geared toward protecting them, Fields is still going to take hits like the one from Dee Alford that caused him to land on his shoulder.
He missed time last season, too, when he suffered cracked ribs in Week 10 against the Ravens. He left that game in the third quarter and missed the next two. He also hurt his ankle in Week 14 and missed two more games before sitting out the finale with coronavirus.
Fields has completed 59.6% of his passes, averaged 149.3 yards passing per game and thrown for 13 touchdowns against eight interceptions for an 86.2 passer rating. He also has rushed for a team-high 834 yards and seven touchdowns.