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GREEN BAY, Wis. — It appears that Aaron Rodgers still owns the Chicago Bears but unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers‘ quarterback, he also still has a problem with his fractured pinky toe.

Rodgers and the Packers beat the Bears for the sixth straight time and Rodgers ran his record as a starter against them to 23-5 — settling milestones and records in the series along the way. But he indicated that whatever healing took place with his toe during the Packers’ bye was wiped out, and then some.

“It feels worse,” Rodgers said after Sunday’s 45-30 win at Lambeau Field. “I don’t know what kind of setback that I had tonight but we’ll look at it tomorrow. Definitely took a step back tonight.”

Rodgers’ suffered the injury last month during his COVID-19 quarantine and has barely practiced despite not missing any significant game action since he hurt it. It had improved enough last week to the point where he actually practiced for the first time in three weeks.

During the bye, Rodgers said surgery was an option and even though he was told it could be done without him missing a game, he elected not to have it. He said Sunday that he was still hoping to avoid the procedure, which would immobilize his toe, but that a decision would be made after he undergoes tests on Monday.

“That would be last resort, for sure,” Rodgers said. “But I’ve got to see what kind of setback it was tonight.”

There was no setback when it came to the Packers’ dominance over the Bears with Rodgers at quarterback. Two months after Rodgers celebrated a touchdown at Soldier Field by screaming “I still own you” to fans in the stands, Rodgers threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns without an interception.

This was Rodgers’ seventh four-touchdown, no interception game against the Bears, the most in NFL history against a single opponent. Rodgers is the only quarterback who also has six — against the Vikings. Next closest is Tom Brady with five such games against the Bills.

Rodgers’ final touchdown of the game — his second of the night to Davante Adams (10 catches for 131 yards) — gave him 61 career touchdowns against the Bears, passing Brett Favre’s 60 for the most all time against Chicago. All of that prompted Packers receiver Allen Lazard to wear a shirt that read “I still own you” — Rodgers’ exact words on Oct. 17 — to his postgame news conference.

At first, only the words, “I still” were visible on Lazard’s shirt but when asked if it said what everyone thought it said, Lazard stood up to reveal the “own you,” portion and said: “It most definitely does.”

Running back AJ Dillon had them made shortly after the first game this season against the Bears and while Rodgers said he has one, he did not feel compelled to wear his on Sunday.

“I’ve already said what I’ve said,” Rodgers said. “I don’t need to double and triple down. I’ll let those words stand for themselves.”

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Fields completed 18 of 33 passes for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. | AP Photos

Fields and coach Matt Nagy said they didn’t expect the injury to be a significant issue going forward.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields returned Sunday after missing two starts because of three cracked ribs and felt fine in that regard. But he suffered a new injury during the 45-30 loss to the Packers.

Fields hurt his left (non-throwing) hand and had x-rays on it because of swelling, but indicated it was not a major issue.

“My hand is just swollen a little bit,” he said.

He completed 18 of 33 passes for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as running nine times for 74 yards in his return. He said he was in pain because of the rib injury throughout the game — he described it as “bearable” — and did feel limitations from it on certain throws.

“In the back of my head, just trying to stay protected and not take any hits, of course,” Fields said. “I think there was one sack where I just kinda fell down because I wasn’t trying to take a major hit.”

Bears No. 2 quarterback Andy Dalton was out because of an injured non-throwing hand, leaving Nick Foles as Fields’ backup.

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Fields had 150 yards passing and 44 yards rushing in the first half. | AP Photos

In his return from three cracked ribs, Fields continued showing signs that he’s on the rise. And with this season already lost, that’s the most important thing for the Bears.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Justin Fields is getting better, and that’s the only thing that matters about this Bears season.

Regardless of a 45-30 defeat Sunday night, he’s the only one in the organization who can say he took a step forward in the Bears’ game against the Packers at Lambeau Field. He would say he’s too competitive to accept a figurative victory, but he’s too new to the Bears to see this through a wide-angled lens.

The true purpose of Sunday and the Bears’ remaining four games is to build toward a Fields-led future. Anything that brightens that outlook is a positive, and Fields provided some good indicators in his return after missing two games with cracked ribs.

He completed 18 of 33 passes for 224 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions (one was a desperate shot at the end) and ran nine times for 74 yards. With the help of Jakeem Grant’s punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter, he had the Bears up 27-21 at halftime. That alone was better than how almost anyone thought they’d fare at Lambeau.

The Bears’ various maladies — Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers clubbing the withered defense in another monstrous embarrassment, coach Matt Nagy’s questionable decisions, the roster moves that led to Xavier Crawford covering Davante Adams . . . they’re just ancillary — and temporary.

Nearly everything around Fields is irrelevant at this point because most of it probably won’t be around him next season.

The Bears stumbled into giving him a season of learning on the job, diverted to that course only after original starter Andy Dalton hurt his knee in Week 2, and it was the best thing for them. It might not have been the best thing for Nagy and his job security, but that’s where the gauging of success for Fields and the rest of the organization split.

Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace needed to win now. They’re overdue and long past their grace period. Dalton, tight end Jimmy Graham, defensive end Akiem Hicks and other veterans face that same level of urgency as they try to prolong their careers.

But Fields has time. It’s not imperative that he arrives this season — only that he continues in the right direction. The real evaluation comes next season.

And so far, everything looks right. Fields is far from a finished product, but he has consistently shown elusive running ability, precise deep passes and decisiveness. All of those abilities have improved steadily as he has expanded his understanding of NFL defenses.

To his credit, he has done all of that in spite of the Bears’ disarray and his injury. Nagy put Fields on a slower track than necessary because he had already locked into the idea of Dalton being the starter all season and Fields learning through observation. But there are some things Fields must learn through his own interceptions rather than Dalton’s, and that’s a choppy process everyone is going to have to accept.

Back-to-back possessions in the second quarter Sunday illustrated that growth. Fields misfired to wide receiver Darnell Mooney in the flats with 5:09 left in the half, and cornerback Rasul Douglas jumped the route for a pick-six to give the Packers their first lead of the night, 14-10. The throw needed to be between Mooney and the sideline, but Fields left it too far inside and allowed Douglas an opportunity.

Fields atoned for it three snaps later when he dropped a spot-on pass over the middle to Damiere Byrd, who went 54 yards for a touchdown. It would be easy to overlook Fields’ contribution to that play since the throw was just six yards past the line of scrimmage and Byrd did most of the legwork, but his accuracy and touch were essential. Had Fields not hit Byrd perfectly in stride, he wouldn’t have been able to outrace the three defenders in proximity. Had he needed to reach up or back at all, he likely would have been stopped.

“It was a great ball by him,” Byrd said. “He put it right where it needed to be.”

In addition to the throw being accurate, it was just the right speed. That’s a big upgrade from the beginning of the season, when virtually every pass was a fastball.

Fields’ most impressive drive, though, was when he led the Bears to a field goal just before halftime. The Bears were up 24-21 and had the ball at their own 42 with 37 seconds left. It was an easy time to take a knee and go into the locker room with a lead, but the threat of Rodgers getting the ball to start the second half prompted the Bears to go for it.

Fields hit tight end Cole Kmet near the sideline so he could get out of bounds and stop the clock, then ran out of bounds on a 20-yard run to put the Bears in scoring range. They capped the drive with Cairo Santos’ 44-yard field goal as time ran out.

Throughout all the turmoil and turbulence, Fields is rising. That’s crucial because he was one of the few players on the field Sunday who is clearly part of the Bears’ future. He’s central to it and driving it, and that’s the best thing about the Bears as they close out another underwhelming season.

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Aaron Rodgers reacts after a third-quarter touchdown pass in the Packers’ 45-30 victory over the Bears on Sunday night. | Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

He throws four touchdown passes in the Packers’ 45-30 victory.

Perhaps you’ve heard the assumption that Sunday night was Aaron Rodgers’ last game against the Bears as a Packer. The birthplace of this assumption/hope/desperate prayer must have been Chicago, which has a rooting interest in never again hearing him scream that he owns the Bears.

Several questions: Have the purveyors of this plea/leap of faith/cry for help been paying attention to the Bears, a franchise that seems to live for punishment?

Have they noticed how Rodgers delights in inflicting pain on his friends to the south? Do they think it has escaped his notice how good the Packers are?

Do Bears fans really think being rid of him will be that easy? That he’ll pick another team after the season is over and the Bears’ nightmare will be over? That the enemy simply moves on, as if he’s changing aisles at the grocery story?

No way. Remember, we’re talking about the Bears, who, though able to create their own calamity, are perfectly willing to accept donations. So Rodgers no longer a Packer after 2021? I’m more inclined to believe that God will change teams before No. 12 does.

Rodgers was up to his old tricks Sunday night, throwing for 341 yards and four touchdowns (and no interceptions) in a 45-30 victory. Exactly no one was surprised.

The big surprise was that the game was competitive and — what’s this strange word? — fun. The Bears, 11 1/2 -point underdogs, had overcome a pick-six by Justin Fields to take a 27-21 halftime lead. The high-scoring Bears? Who knew?

“I’m having so much fun!” Bears coach Matt Nagy told NBC at halftime.

Then the Packers outscored the Bears 17-0 in the third quarter and, well, you know.

Standing above it all was Rodgers.

He’s now 22-5 with 61 touchdown passes against the Bears in the regular season. Sounds a lot like ownership.

You can see where the idea of Rodgers moving on to greener and less gold pastures would be appealing to a Bears fan with a lot of scar tissue and a Twitter account.

A fan base can hope, can’t it? Sure it can, in the same way it can hope for free tickets, free beer and freedom from the McCaskeys. With the history of the Bears under current ownership as a guide, Rodgers figures to still be a Packer when he’s attaching tennis balls to his walker. Then he’ll throw for 350 yards and three touchdowns at Soldier Field.

Why would he give up what he has now? He plays for one of the best teams in the league and has a legitimate chance of winning his second Super Bowl. The Packers have excellent receivers, a very good running game and a good defense. Signing with the Broncos, Dolphins, Raiders, Eagles or Giants sounds interesting until you factor in the goal of winning. Then it’s not so interesting.

Among all the problems, neuroses and curses that are attached to the Bears like rock climbers’ pitons is the belief that they’ll never be free of Rodgers. Fans should know better than to think his haunting of their team will end so easily. All that discontent Rodgers carried around with him like a hair shirt over the summer — where is it now? He skipped offseason workouts, upset about not having a say in team personnel decisions. Some Green Bay fans became disillusioned with their star quarterback, who had won the Most Valuable Player Award only months earlier.

And now? Now the Packers seem like one happy family, with Rodgers the happiest camper.

But that didn’t stop social media from dreaming throughout the week. Take a good look at him, some Bears fans said. You won’t be seeing him anymore in Packers colors, they said. Mostly, they were hoping from the bottom of their battered hearts that he wouldn’t be around to carve up their team twice a year.

If Rodgers does go elsewhere after the season, history would like to point out that when Bears fans were celebrating Brett Favre’s departure from Green Bay after the 2007 season, Rodgers was warming up his arm. The atomic bomb was giving way to the hydrogen bomb. So if not Rodgers, then the next guy.

When he made his ownership claim after running for a touchdown at Soldier Field two months ago, he didn’t mean he owned the Bears in just that moment. He didn’t mean that he owned the Bears for the rest of the season or even that he had owned the Bears for the last 14 seasons as a starter. He meant that he owned the Bears in perpetuity because, well, forever seems about right.

Even if he signs with another team in the offseason, he’ll still call Green Bay “home” and Chicago “mine.” And he won’t be wrong.

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Bears coach Matt Nagy reacts in the second quarter Sunday night against the Packers. | Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

For 15 minutes Sunday night, the Bears were everything coach Matt Nagy had promised they’d be over the last four years.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — For 15 minutes Sunday night, the Bears were everything coach Matt Nagy had promised they’d be over the last four years.

They were explosive.

They had a young quarterback playing well.

Their special teams — which doomed Nagy in his first season — provided jolts of electricity.

They looked on par with one of the NFL’s best teams.

They were actually entertaining.

Nagy said as much at halftime, when his team was ahead and, briefly, the talk of the country.

“I’m having so much fun,” he told NBC.

It didn’t last.

Nagy’s last opportunity for a memorable win — the next four games, all against losing teams, don’t matter — vanished when the Packers outclassed the Bears in the second half at Lambeau Field. The Packers restored order in the NFC North, winning 45-30 and sending Nagy home from Green Bay winless for the fourth consecutive year.

He’s not going to get a fifth chance. Nagy seems destined to be fired at the end of the season — though probably not before. Nagy doesn’t get bonus points for putting together an explosive second quarter and then totaling three points the rest of the way. Nor does he deserve praise for winning only one more game over the last nine weeks than the White Sox. Or for losing by the Bears’ biggest margin in eight weeks. But the Bears’ effort Sunday night — and the ongoing growth of rookie quarterback Justin Fields — figures to buy him exactly four more games in charge.

“For us to be able to come out those two quarters and do what we did, that was fun, that was good football . . .” Nagy said. “I think they got to see what they can be.”

The Bears led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and scored more points in the second quarter than they had in all but one game all season. Jakeem Grant took a shovel pass 46 yards for a touchdown to put the Bears up 10-0 early in the second quarter. The Packers parried with two touchdowns in 55 seconds — and then the Bears scored two of their own in 96 seconds. Receiver Damiere Byrd caught a pass and never broke stride — or was touched — en route to a 54-yard touchdown. Then Grant did his best Devin Hester impression, fielding a punt at his own 3, running right, then doubling back to his left and sprinting up the left sideline for a 97-yard touchdown.

Their three second-quarter touchdowns produced three of the four fastest sprint speeds by any Bears player all season — Grant hit 21.3 mph on the return and 20.86 mph on the touchdown catch, and Byrd ran 20.8 mph on his score.

Cairo Santos’ 44-yard field goal put the Bears up by six at halftime. The Packers would score the next 24 points. Aaron Rodgers reminded the Bears who owns them, finishing 29-for-37 for 341 yards, four touchdowns and a 141.1 passer rating.

The Bears couldn’t play with a lead or keep Rodgers off the field. Nagy handed the ball off to David Montgomery exactly once in the second half.

Since Nagy clinched the division in 2018 against the Packers, the Bears have flubbed every chance to update the rivalry with a memorable moment. In the NFL’s season opener in 2019 against the Packers, Nagy wore George Halas’ fedora into Soldier Field. The Bears lost.

At Lambeau Field that same year, tight end Jesper Horsted missed a chance to lateral the ball on a last-second trick play that would have given the Bears a chance to tie. The Bears lost.

In Week 17 last year, the Bears had a chance to stamp their playoff ticket by beating the Packers at home. The Bears lost.

Sunday night, despite the second-quarter rally, they did the same.

The Bears’ day started with a reminder of their growing instability: CBS reported chairman George McCaskey had talked to former Bears player Trace Armstrong — who’s now an agent for, among others, Nagy — about a high-level executive position with the franchise next season. Armstrong shot it down quickly.

“I have the utmost respect for the Chicago Bears organization, the McCaskey family and Ted Phillips,” he said. “However, any assertion that I have engaged in conversations with them about joining the club in any capacity is simply not true.”

The final four weeks will feature more of the same: breathless reports about Nagy’s job status, and that of general manager Ryan Pace and a franchise in need of change.

Nagy had a chance to make Sunday night memorable. The promise of the second quarter proved to be what the Bears have produced too often over the last four years: a false start.

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Bears tackle Teven Jenkins warms up before the Bears play the Cardinals last week. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

He was flagged for holding Preston Smith in the third quarter but still allowed him to sack Justin Fields, forcing a fumble that gave the Packers the ball. They scored the next play.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The day before the Bears activated rookie left Teven Jenkins from injured reserve, coach Matt Nagy was asked what role — if any — the second-round pick would play this year. Nagy’s response: depth. As much as the Bears wanted to get a look at their second-round pick the rest of the season, starting left tackle Jason Peters was playing well.

“You always need as many O-linemen as you can have,” Nagy said.

Nine days later, fate proved Nagy right. While blocking in the first quarter Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Peters had his right ankle rolled up on by Packers defensive lineman Kenny Clark, who was being blocked by guard James Daniels. Peters walked to the sideline, and then to the locker room.

Jenkins — who had played exactly two career snaps, both on PATs against the Cardinals — became the Bears’ new left tackle. He figures to stay there, too, so long as the 39-year-old Peters is hampered. And then beyond.

Jenkins’ performance Sunday night, though, was rough. He was flagged for holding Preston Smith in the third quarter but still allowed him to sack Justin Fields, forcing a fumble that gave the Packers the ball. They scored the next play.

He was flagged for two false starts and another holding penalty.

The Bears plan on building around the Oklahoma State rookie after general manager Ryan Pace traded three picks to the Panthers to move up in the second round and draft him No. 39 overall. The team planned on Jenkins starting the season at left tackle, but he hurt his back during the offseason program and never played a snap of training camp, opting for surgery in August. He returned to practice three weeks ago before being activated for games the day before the Cardinals loss.

Monday, offensive line coach Juan Castillo said the Bears were trying to get Jenkins ready in case of an injury.

“In an emergency thing, if something happened to Jason, right now he would be the one that would come in,” Castillo said. “So we’re trying to catch him up. He hasn’t done a lot of football. We’re working hard trying to get him ready in case something like that happens. “

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Adams had 10 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. | Getty

Plus, a look at a brutal penalty and Robert Quinn’s magnificent bounce-back.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Bears were in position to pull off one of the great upsets of the season, but it fell apart in the second half Sunday night against the Packers, and they lost 45-30 at Lambeau Field.

Beyond Aaron Rodgers lighting up the Bears’ defense again and Justin Fields coming back from cracked ribs, here are the key things to know about the game:

Gift taken away

Trailing by 11 points, the Bears caught an incredible break with 13:31 left when Packers returner Amari Rodgers muffed a punt that bounced right into Damien Williams’ hands for an easy recovery. The Bears would have had the ball at the Packers’ 20-yard line, but it was negated by cornerback Kindle Vildor being flagged for running out of bounds in coverage.

Quinn’s dominance

Bears outside linebacker Robert Quinn continues to put together an incredible bounce-back season after he was one of the most disappointing players on the roster in 2020. He had two sacks against the Packers, pushing his season total to 14 — the second-highest of his career and third-best in franchise history.

Adams romps

Perhaps Rodgers does own the Bears, but if he does, receiver Davante Adams has a share. Adams had 10 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. It was his 16th career game against the Bears; he pushed his all-time numbers against them to 81 catches for 1,024 yards and 10 touchdowns.

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Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) salutes the fans as he leaves the field following the Packers’ 45-30 victory over the Bears on Sunday night at Lambeau Field. | Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Shaking off some early pressure from the Bears’ defense, Rodgers was typically dominant — throwing for 341 yards and four touchdowns — to lead the Packers to a 45-30 victory.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Owned again.

After being insulted by Aaron Rodgers in their loss to the Packers at Soldier Field in October, the Bears’ defense had plenty of verve but only so much gas in the tank in the rematch Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

The Bears held Rodgers and the Packers’ offense to 10 plays and no points in the first quarter — with linebackers Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith and cornerback Jaylon Johnson playing key roles. But the defense wilted from there as Rodgers’ urgency to combat an unexpected double-digit deficit applied just too much pressure to bear.

As it turned out, Rodgers was typically efficient and dominant in leading the Packers to a 45-30 victory — completing 29-of-37 passes for 341 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions for a 141.1 passer rating. It was his fifth-best passer rating in his storied history of dominance over the Bears — a 23-5 record, including the playoffs.

The loss was extra painful for the Bears. Linebacker Roquan Smith aggravated a hamstring injury in the second half and did not return.

With Rodgers at the helm, the Packers’ offense shook off the Bears’ best effort and steamrolled them to yet another victory. The Packers had 10 plays for 42 yards in their scoreless first quarter. They had 54 plays for 397 yards (7.45 avg.) in the final three quarters.

When Rodgers turned up the heat, the Bears were helpless to do anything about it. With the Bears leading 27-21 at halftime, the Packers scored 17 points on their first three possessions of the third quarter to take a 38-27 lead that seemed much more commanding than the actual 11-point difference.

On the opening drive of the second half, Rodgers never even faced a third down in driving the Packers 75 yards on nine plays, with Aaron Jones scoring easily on a three-yard run to give the Packers a 28-27 lead.

After Fields fumbled on a strip sack and Rashan Gary recovered, the Packers scored on the next play, with Rodgers throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jones to give the Packers a 35-27 lead with 8:24 left in the third quarter.

The Packers were driving for another score on their next possession with a first-and-goal at the 8-yard-line. But the Bears’ defense stiffened, with nose tackle Eddie Gipson and safety Tashaun Gipson stopping AJ Dillon for no gain and Rodgers throwing two incompletions. But Mason Crosby kicked a 20-yard field goal to give the Packers a 38-27 lead.

Quinn set the tone early with a sack of Rodgers for an 11-yard loss on the Packers’ second play from scrimmage to force a punt. Quinn and defensive end Bilal Nichols combined on another sack of Rogers and a nine-yard loss to stunt the Packers second drive — with Quinn getting to Rodgers first and Nichols finishing the job.

With the Bears leading 10-0 in the second quarter, the Packers finally broke through, but the Bears made Rodgers work for it. On first-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Smith stuffed Dillon, Rodgers threw incomplete for Devante Adams and safety Eddie Jackson aggressively broke up a pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the end zone.

But the Packers went for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal and got it when wide receiver Allen Lazard beat Bears backup Xavier Crawford off the line for an easy two-yard touchdown that cut the Bears’ lead to 10-7.

Facing a rare 10-point deficit against the Bears, Rodgers’ sense of urgency was evident and the Bears’ defense wilted a little more. The Packers needed just four plays to drive 75 yards for a touchdown, with Rodgers taking advantage of a favorable matchup — Adams vs. Crawford — for a 38-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 24-21 with 44 seconds left in the first half.

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Fields had 150 yards passing and 44 yards rushing in the first half. | AP Photos

In his return from three cracked ribs, Fields continued showing signs that he’s on the rise. And with this season already lost, that’s the most important thing for the Bears.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Justin Fields is getting better, and that’s the only thing that matters about this Bears season.

He’s the only one in the organization who can say he took a step forward Sunday in the Bears’ game against the Packers at Lambeau Field regardless of the outcome. He would say he’s too competitive to accept a figurative victory, but he’s too new to the Bears to view this through a wide-angled lens.

The true purpose of Sunday and the remaining four games is to build toward a Fields-led future. Anything that brightens that outlook is a positive, and Fields delivered some good indicators in his return from cracked ribs.

The Bears stumbled haphazardly into giving Fields a season of learning on the job, diverted to that course only after Andy Dalton hurt his knee in Week 2, and it was the best thing for them. It might not have been the best thing for coach Matt Nagy and his job security, but that’s where the measurements of success for Fields and the rest of the organization split.

Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace need to win now. They’re overdue and long past their grace period.

Andy Dalton, Jimmy Graham, Akiem Hicks and various other Bears veterans face that same level of urgency as they try to prolong their careers.

But Fields has time. It’s not imperative that he arrives this season, only that he continues heading the right direction. The real evaluation comes next season.

And so far, everything looks right. Fields is far from a finished product, but he has consistently shown elusive running ability, precise deep passes and decisiveness. All of those abilities have improved steadily as he has expanded his understanding of NFL defenses.

To his credit, he has done all that in spite of the Bears’ disarray and his rib injury. Nagy put Fields on a slower track than necessary because he had already locked into the idea of Dalton being the starter all season and Fields learning through observation.

But there are some things he must learn through his own interceptions rather than Dalton’s, and that’s a choppy process that everyone is going to have to accept. There were back-to-back possessions in the second quarter that illustrated that growth.

Fields misfired to wide receiver Darnell Mooney in the flats with 5:09 until halftime, and Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas jumped the route for a pick-six to give his team its first lead of the night at 14-10. The throw needed to be between Mooney and the sideline, but Fields left it too far inside and allowed Douglas an opportunity at it.

Fields atoned for it three snaps later when he dropped a spot-on pass over the middle to Damiere Byrd, who went 54 yards for a touchdown. It’d be easy to overlook Fields’ contribution since the throw was just six yards past the line of scrimmage and Byrd did most of the legwork, but his accuracy and touch were essential to the play.

Had Fields not hit Byrd perfectly in stride, he wouldn’t have been able to outrace the three defenders in proximity. Had he needed to reach up or back at all, he likely would’ve been stopped.

In addition to the throw being accurate, it was just the right speed. That’s a big upgrade from the beginning of the season when virtually every pass was a fastball.

His most impressive drive, though, was when he led the Bears to a field goal just before halftime. The Bears were up 24-21 and had the ball at their own 42 with 37 seconds left. It was an easy time to take a knee and go into the locker room with a lead, but the threat of Aaron Rodgers getting the ball to start the second half prompted the Bears to go for it.

Fields hit tight end Cole Kmet near the sideline so he could get out of bounds and stop the clock, then ran out of bounds on a 20-yard run to put the Bears in scoring range. They capped the drive with Cairo Santos’ 44-yard field goal as time ran out.

Throughout all turmoil and turbulence, Fields is rising. That’s crucial because he was one of the few players on the field Sunday who is clearly part of the Bears’ future. He’s central to it.

Everything around him is irrelevant at this point because most of it probably won’t be around him next season.

Nagy’s questionable decisions, the roster moves that led to Xavier Crawford covering Davante Adams, the widespread withering of a once-mighty defense and the Bears’ various other maladies are just ancillary — and temporary. Fields is driving their future, and that’s the best thing about the Bears as they close out another underwhelming season.

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The Chicago Bears are hoping to pull off the upset against the 9-3 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. And despite the line being 13.5 with the Bears as underdogs, Chicago has hung with Green Bay and had the lead for most of the first half.

That’s in large part due to wide receiver and return man Jakeem Grant.

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