Joe Namath was on fire that day, just like he was for the entire 1967 season. The New York Jets legend passed for 343 yards and four touchdowns to beat the San Diego Chargers in the final game, 42-31 — and he didn’t throw a single pass in the fourth quarter. After his fourth touchdown toss, Namath’s counterpart effectively surrendered.

“We’re on the sideline and I look across the field and John Hadl was over there waving a white towel,” Namath recalled for ESPN, laughing at the memory.

Namath finished the season with 4,007 passing yards — a record for the AFL and NFL, although he didn’t learn of the milestone until he was informed well after the game by the public relations staff. Nowadays, it would’ve been announced during the game, and he would’ve seen the alert on his phone upon returning to the locker room.

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Known for his quick release and deep balls, Namath was responsible for the only 4,000-yard season in the era of the 14-game schedule. The record lasted until 1979, when the Chargers’ Dan Fouts threw for 4,082 yards in 16 games.

What was once a rare gem is now fairly ordinary in the NFL’s wide-open passing era. The 4,000-yard mark has been reached 208 times, with all but two teams having produced at least one such passer since Namath’s 4,007.

The Jets and the Chicago Bears.

They face each other Sunday at MetLife Stadium (1 p.m. ET, Fox) and, fittingly, quarterback upheaval is the top storyline. It was supposed to be Zach Wilson against Justin Fields — a pair of 2021 first-round picks — but Wilson was benched Wednesday in favor of Mike White. The struggling Wilson needed a “reset,” according to coach Robert Saleh, who said he intends to play him again this season and insisted he’s still their future. Round and round they go, two franchises attempting to reverse decades of quarterback futility.

“I’ve talked about the Bears franchise as a place where quarterbacks go to die,” said former Jets quarterback-turned-CBS analyst Boomer Esiason, who threw a career-high 3,959 yards as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1986. “I guess you could probably say the same thing about the Jets in some respects.”

What’s behind these two franchises’ historic ineffectiveness in the passing game — particularly in the modern era with rules favoring wide-open passing attacks — and what might the future hold?

Jay Cutler, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson & Joe Namath ESPN

Why their passing games haven’t broken out

It’s been 27 years since Erik Kramer set the Bears’ single-season record for passing yards (3,838) and touchdowns (29) in 1995. No one is more surprised than Kramer, a former undrafted free agent, that the franchise tied for the oldest in NFL history has never had a 4,000-yard passer.

“You think about all the first-round draft pick quarterbacks they’ve had since then,” said Kramer, who spent five seasons (1994-98) with Chicago. “It’s not such a lofty mark that it shouldn’t have been broken many, many times, especially with the passing game today and the way they’ve legislated defense out of the game. It really doesn’t make sense to me.”

The quarterback position has been a revolving door in Chicago since the Bears traded Jim McMahon, the only QB to win a Super Bowl in franchise history, in 1989 after years of injuries. Since then, the Bears have used 36 different starting quarterbacks, which is the third-most in the NFL in that span. Ahead of the 2022 season, Chicago went 12 straight seasons without the same starting quarterback every game, the league’s longest active streak, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Bears quarterback Erik Kramer came the closest to eclipsing 4,000 passing yards, racking up 3,838 in 1995. AP Photo/Andy Manis

For much of its history, Chicago’s identity has been synonymous with the “black-and-blue division” moniker earned by the NFC North (formerly the NFC’s Central division) for its physical style of play. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Bears have finished top-10 in scoring defense 23 times.

“That’s what it was known for — running, playing tough defense — and now with the proliferation of these RPO offenses, that identity is kind of getting taken away,” ex-Bears quarterback Jim Miller said.

Miller, who helped lead the Bears to a 13-3 record in 2001, ranks 23rd on the franchise’s single-season passing list (2,299). A shoulder injury that required six surgeries after the Bears believed Miller was their long-term answer, derailed his career and spun the revolving door that has not slowed down.

“They had settled on me as the quarterback and I just couldn’t stay healthy for them,” Miller said. “Then the run of quarterbacks started coming. One guy after the other from Kordell [Stewart] to [Craig] Krenzel – you name it – was through that building. They tried like hell to draft guys like Rex Grossman and Cade McNown. There’s just a slew of guys that went through there and they never seemed to put it together, but always tried to rely on their defense and running the football.

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“It’s hard to find a franchise quarterback, and the Bears have been searching for a long time. But when you have coaching hires in and out and you’re changing offenses, it’s just not a recipe for success.”

The Bears have invested a total of 10 first-round picks in quarterbacks since the start of the Common Draft Era in 1967, the most by any franchise in that time. In addition to drafting six QBs in the first round — most recently Fields (2021) and Mitchell Trubisky (2017) — the Bears traded four first-round picks to land veteran quarterbacks Mike Phipps (1978), Rick Mirer (1997) and Jay Cutler (2010).

Cutler’s Bears career (2009-16) featured five passing performances that rank in the top-11, including the second through fifth largest single-season outputs. Cutler had six different offensive coordinators during that time.

In eight seasons with the Bears, Cutler topped out at 3,812 passing yards (2014). His desire to be part of a high-octane offense, like the one he came from in Denver after throwing for 4,526 yards in 2008, didn’t vanish when he came to Chicago. In fact, over 13% of his pass attempts were thrown 20 or more yards downfield, the fourth-highest rate by any NFL QB with at least 1,000 passes from 2009-16.

Receivers play a critical role for every quarterback who reaches the 4,000-yard passing mark. Former Bears wideout Muhsin Muhammad’s claim that Chicago is where “receivers go to die” resonates with those who played here.

“Over the years, in addition to not having great quarterbacks, the Bears have lacked talent,” Kramer said. “Our overall talent level, skill position-wise, was somewhat limited.”

The Jets have employed 20 full-time starting quarterbacks since the Namath era ended in 1976. Three eclipsed 3,500 yards — Ryan Fitzpatrick (3,905), Ken O’Brien (3,888) and Vinny Testaverde (3,732) — but no one made first-team All-Pro, and no one led his team to a Super Bowl, as Namath did in 1968.

“Testaverde, Boomer Esiason, they’ve had some good quarterbacks,” former Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “You would think, God, that one of those guys would’ve thrown for 4,000 yards.”

After all, everyone is doing it — a total of 76 individual 4,000-yard seasons since 2015. A number of factors have contributed to the Jets’ 55-year drought.

For one, they’ve fielded only five top-10 offenses since Namath, based on yards per game. That breaks down to about once per decade. They went through a stretch of 22 consecutive seasons of defensive-minded head coaches, from Bill Parcells (1997) to Todd Bowles (2018) — which, for the most part, made for run-oriented attacks.

PlayerYearsW-LMost pass yds/seasonRichard Todd1977-8342-51-13,478Matt Robinson19846-51,939Ken O’Brien1984-9150-55-13,888Browning Nagle19924-102,280Boomer Esiason1993-9515-273,421Neil O’Donnell1996-19978-122,796Glenn Foley1997-19981-7749Vinny Testaverde1998-200235-263,732Chad Pennington2002-200732-293,352Kellen Clemens20074-51,529Brett Favre20089-73,472Mark Sanchez2009-201233-293,474Greg McElroy20120-1214Geno Smith2013-201412-183,046Ryan Fitzpatrick2015-201613-143,905Bryce Petty20161-4809Josh McCown20175-82,926Sam Darnold2018-202013-253,024Zach Wilson2021-20228-122,334Mike White20220-0N/A

They’ve also suffered from a lack of offensive stability — i.e. a merry-go-round of offensive coordinators. The current one, Mike LaFleur, is the eighth different coordinator in the last 12 years. The constant turnover means new systems and new playbooks to learn, which makes it difficult to develop players, especially quarterbacks.

Mostly, though, it’s about talent. The Jets haven’t had “That Guy” even though they have invested heavily at the position through the draft — 10 first- and second-round picks since Namath.

Mark Sanchez, Chad Pennington and O’Brien each had multiple playoff seasons, but none of them were able to sustain success due to various factors. Sam Darnold fizzled. Geno Smith also fizzled — and now he’s enjoying new life with the Seattle Seahawks after bouncing around the league. Second-rounder Christian Hackenberg, incredibly, never played a down.

The Jets tried the free-agent route, spending big on Neil O’Donnell in 1996 — which proved disastrous. They tried the splashy-trade route, dealing for Brett Favre — an epic fail after a tantalizingly good start.

“Football is a team game. Who’s picking the players?” asked Namath, trying to explain the slump since he was quarterback. “It’s a team game and you have to have the right players around the quarterback and the right coaching.”

Every great quarterback needs a great receiver, and the Jets haven’t had one in a long time. They’ve had one Pro Bowl wide receiver in the last 22 years — Brandon Marshall in 2015.

O’Brien believes some of it has to do with the personality of the coaches over the years, and how they’ve tried to maintain balance on offense. He also noted the experience level of the quarterbacks — or lack thereof.

“When you have younger guys,” O’Brien said, “you try to protect them until they get going.”

Quarterback Mark Sanchez, the last quarterback to lead the Jets to the playoffs, had a career-best 3,474 yards in 2011. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

The Jets have tried that approach, most recently with Wilson, Darnold, Smith and Sanchez — with minimal results. Sanchez made the playoffs in his first two seasons, 2009 and 2010, and they haven’t been back since. In between first-rounds picks, they hired “bridge” quarterbacks, most notably Fitzpatrick, who enjoyed a career year (3,905 passing yards) and took the Jets to the brink of the playoffs in 2015. As usual, they came up short.

When it comes to the Jets and their quarterback history, it starts and ends with Namath. His 4,007-yard season, projected over 17 games, would be 4,866 yards. Not only did he have fewer games, but he said he never took a single snap out of shotgun. Asked how he’d perform today, with liberalized rules to help passing attacks, Namath said half-jokingly that he wouldn’t have been allowed on the field because of his famously ravaged knees.

“I look at what kind of things they do with the ball, the way they get it out, the kind of stuff they throw … I would’ve loved to have played the way the guys play today, sure,” he said. “The game has changed drastically and I think for the better.”

The next season, after a pair of five-interception games, Namath — called out by the coaches — dialed back the passing and leaned on his running game and defense. Remember, the quarterbacks called their own plays in those days. The result was a Super Bowl championship.

What’s next?

There’s tangible excitement centered around Fields, who ranks fourth in Total QBR (73.6) since Week 7. Though he appears to be the quarterback the Bears can orchestrate their rebuild around, it’s unrealistic to think Fields will be close to a 4,000-yard passing season any time soon.

Through 11 weeks, Fields is averaging 149.3 passing yards per game, which ranks 35th out of 36 qualified quarterbacks. His highest passing output this season was 208 yards in a loss to Minnesota, which is the only time he’s topped 200 yards passing in a game in 2022.

The Bears’ identity as the league’s most dominant rushing team (197.9 yards per game) has carried this offense. While it’s not sustainable that Fields can run the ball as much as he has (a league-most 122 attempts) as evidenced by the shoulder injury he sustained in Atlanta, seeking balance is key for Chicago in developing an approach offensively that can better feature Fields’ skill set as a passer.

Justin Fields leads all quarterbacks with 834 yards rushing, but he’s on pace for just 2,538 passing yards. Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

“The most important thing is (offensive coordinator Luke) Getsy is staying in their lane offensively,” Miller said. “They know who they are. They’ve got an identity. We run the football well, now let’s build this play-action package, and at some point, they’ll be able to build a three-wide dropback package for Justin. In my mind, he’s capable of doing it all. He’s got a nice arm.”

Upgrading Chicago’s crop of receivers will be a focal point of the offseason. No player has more than wide out Darnell Mooney‘s 493 receiving yards and tight end Cole Kmet‘s five touchdowns. For a quarterback to reach 4,000 yards, he needs teammates who can catch the ball. Limitations with their personnel plays a role in what’s preventing this passing attack from taking off, but expressing self-awareness about those limitations and finding workarounds for the offense is Getsy’s priority for the rest of the season.

“We run the rock and we do a good job with the play-pass game and so it’s not like we’re just spreading ’em out,” Getsy said. “We’re not the Cincinnati Bengals just spreading out 2 by 2 and spitting it out, one-on-one routes. That’s not been who we are.”

Wilson won’t reach 4,000 yards this season. Heck, he might not make it to 2,000 the way things are going. His struggles in two of the last three games, coupled with questions about his leadership, have put him in the crosshairs. He plays for a defensive-minded coach in Saleh who likes to feature the running game, so it’s possible he might not have the opportunity to put up prolific passing numbers for as long as they’re together.

The talent is there, according to Ryan and Esiason, who said Wilson has “a little Fran Tarkenton and a little Brett Favre in him. He’s got a little bit of both those guys in him, and he’s got to refine that.” Namath said Wilson “moves around beautifully.” He expressed some concern about his accuracy and lack of size (6-foot-2), but expressed optimism that he will improve with experience.

The big issue, one that has come to the forefront in recent days, is how Wilson handles scrutiny. He appeared thin-skinned last week (“Nobody outside of this building knows what they’re talking about”) and showed no accountability after last week’s 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots, dismissing a question about whether he let down the defense with a 77-yard passing performance.

“He was drafted second overall based on his skill — the guy is so freaking talented — but it’s the other thing that concerns me,” said Ryan, an ESPN analyst. “Part of playing this position is being a damn alpha male and be a guy who can stand in front of his teammates and lead. He’s got no idea what a damn leader is or what it’s like to play quarterback in New York.”

Esiason echoed that sentiment, saying, “There’s a level of immaturity there that you have to break through. They have seven games to decide what they think they have there.”

Wilson grew up in Utah and played college ball at BYU, a long way from Gotham. The big city isn’t for everyone. This is the first time in his life that he’s dealing with adversity of this magnitude. O’Brien can relate. He played at UC Davis before being drafted by the Jets in the celebrated quarterback class of ’83. He believes team success will be important for Wilson’s development.

“You certainly grow a lot faster when you’re winning, there’s no doubt,” O’Brien said. “It’s a different burden. When you’re losing, there’s a funk that happens that hangs on. You have to break out of it, and the only way to break out of it is by winning.” Wilson has cut down on his interceptions from last season, but his completion percentage is the same as his rookie number — an alarmingly low 55.6. The Jets are averaging 1.68 points per drive with Wilson at quarterback, which ranks 24th. They have a playoff-caliber defense, but he could be holding them back.

“I see a kid who can really throw, I see a kid who’s an athlete, but I see a kid who looks really nervous to me,” Esiason said. “It was bad (Sunday), on and off the field, but I still think there’s something there. I’m not ready to throw in the towel right now.”

Another white-towel reference. From ’67 to ’22, Namath to Wilson.

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There’s something uniquely DIY and scrappy when it comes to Chicago’s indie music scene. It’s something Remsy Atassi sought to capture in his award-winning directorial debut film “Bad Animal.”

The film — available to stream now on Prime Video, Tubi, Mometu, Hoopla and www.emulsionlab.com — is a love letter to the city’s music scene.

“Chicago is almost like a character in the movie,” says Atassi, co-founder of the Chicago film company Emulsion Lab. “All these cool DIY venues are part of the history and legacy of Chicago music. The DIY scene is a huge thing here. It’s such a cool, diverse world, where all these different kinds of artists come together. … It felt like there was a big story there.”

The film tells the fictional story of Sembr? and Marlene, who fall in love while trying to grow their music careers. Sembr? — played by Chicago poet, artist and actor Mykele Deville — is a rising hip-hop star building off the success of his debut album. (Deville also is the former Hideout employee whose complaints led to the club’s temporary shutdown.) Marlene — played by Chicago native Rivkah Reyes of the film “School of Rock” — juggles being a musician, manager and label co-owner.

When a producer shows up with a major label deal for Sembr?, they have to confront their past and who they’ve become while navigating this newfound fame.

“Bad Animal” explores the ways “we interact with each other and change over time and the way that we sometimes hurt each other and the way that changes us,” says Atassi, who’s also the movie’s screenwriter.

The film is a cautionary tale about the price of success.

“You’re put under a microscope in your decisions, and you get people around you where it’s harder to trust or relate to those things and you get voices in your head,” he says. “We always have to be careful of that voice and try to stay true to who we really are. But also, mistakes are part of life … and there’s always room to grow and change and learn.”

Filmed in 2019, “Bad Animal” builds on the work that Atassi and director of photography Sean Robert Kelly have created at Emulsion Lab since starting it in 2017. They’ve worked on photo shoots, videos and short films centered on local musicians. A Kickstarter campaign for the film raised over $15,000.

“The script seemed like a perfect marriage of the content that we had been producing and the artists we had been working with,” Atassi says. “If you have good people around you who support you, then you just know you’re not going to give up.”

The film features a locally sourced soundtrack, featuring original songs by bands such as The Palmer Squares, Chris Crack, Pixel Grip, Malci and Pet Symmetry. Deville and Reyes covered some of the songs in the film.

The director’s brother, Rami Atassi, a Chicago musician, scored the film, which recently won a best original music award at the Fine Arts Film Festival in Venice, California.

Music has been important for Atassi since he was growing up in northwest Ohio. He’s lived in Chicago for 15 years. He enjoys the city for its sense of community.

“There’s so much true artistry here because people are here because they’re passionate about their craft,” he says. “Making art for its own purpose and to connect with people and have the community can be an end in and of itself.”

It helped that Reyes and Deville had chemistry, as they’ve been close friends since going to the University of Illinois Chicago. Reyes enjoyed having an opportunity to act with her friend and be part of another music-based film.

“It was good to share some of that actual lived experience that I had from being a musician in Chicago, from dating musicians, from knowing a lot of musicians in Chicago,” she says. “It’s easy for me to imagine myself in the lived circumstances of Marlene because I have lived those circumstances.”

She no longer lives in Chicago, but the city will always feel like home. She enjoyed filming at familiar locations, including The Beat Kitchen, where her band in high school performed in a battle of the bands.

“To be able to have one of my last months in Chicago shooting a movie at [these places], it was just wild,” she says. “I really did feel like it was the perfect end to my time in Chicago, sort of bittersweet.”

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Ian Mitchell has been sent back to the IceHogs by the Blackhawks.

The Chicago Blackhawks have reassigned defenseman Ian Mitchell to the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League, the team announced on Thursday.

Mitchell appeared in two games during his brief call-up with the Blackhawks and had zero shots on goal and a -4 rating. He logged 13:26 and 16:25 minutes against Boston and Pittsburgh, respectively.

After playing in both games last weekend, Mitchell was a healthy scratch on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars, bumped from the lineup by the return of Seth Jones from injured reserve.

Jones’ return meant that the Blackhawks had eight healthy defensemen, so someone was going down to Rockford. Only Mitchell and Filip Roos are waivers exempt, and there is reportedly a clause in Roos’ contract which would allow him to return to Europe if he ended up in the AHL — although he said in the preseason that he preferred to try his luck in North America.

Mitchell missed all of training camp and the first month of the regular season because of a left wrist injury. He has five points (two goals, three assists) in three games with the IceHogs.

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If I had the amount of sports content offered today as a kid, I would’ve flunked out of school. I used my Chandler’s more for teams’ schedules than homework assignments.

We can follow our teams through numerous resources anywhere on any device. We can interact with fellow fans anywhere on any device. And, best of all, we can watch any game anywhere on any device.

It’s a sweet table that’s always refilled, a bottomless bucket of buttery popcorn. It’s a dream come true!

It’s also overwhelming.

If you listed all the stuff available in the sports-media marketplace, you could fill an old Sears catalog. And this oversaturation isn’t limited to sports. Media research firm Parks Associates said there are more than 300 direct-to-consumer streaming services in the United States. Who can watch all that?

Back when cable was king — which wasn’t that long ago — many customers wished to have an a la carte option to avoid paying for what they didn’t watch. Now they do, but they still might need a combination of services to be satisfied. Those services add up in cost and eventually sort of resemble . . . cable.

I haven’t cut the cord yet, and I have no plans to. That’s not to say I’m against Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPDs) — that’s the nerd name for streaming services. I just prefer the navigational ease and comprehensive content that cable provides.

Believe me, I subscribe to plenty of streamers: Prime Video, ESPN+, MLB.TV, Netflix. They all satisfy a sports fix, but they’re appointment viewing. I have to go find them. On cable, the content finds me. A game or show appears while I’m channel surfing, and I become engaged in something I otherwise wouldn’t be.

So while it’s great to have “optionality,” as the honchos call it, and while I revel in the sports-content machines that churn out audio, video and written works, I’m still happy to have my old, reliable box. Coaxial cable entered my life in the mid-1980s, and it has kept me connected to the games I hold dear. You can cut your cord if you like. I prefer to splice mine.

Cable is still here, and for that, I give thanks.

Here are some other aspects of sports media for which I’m thankful:

Score bugs

I remember the first time I saw a score bug in an NFL game. Fox introduced it in 1994, its first year owning the NFC package. I recall not liking the shape of the graphic because the teams’ scores didn’t line up (my OCD at work). It didn’t even include down and distance. But it was awesome.

It was a foreign concept to football fans. Maybe that’s because it came from a foreigner, former Fox Sports chief David Hill, an Australian. He said he received death threats after debuting the “FoxBox,” but today you won’t find a game broadcast without a score bug.

They can be overwrought with information (looking at you Bally Sports), and they can take up too much space on the screen (see ESPN’s college football graphic). But they also can be spatially economical and pleasing to the eye (tip of the hat to Marquee Sports Network).

Good or bad, they’re a necessity. Could you watch a game broadcast without one?

Podcasts

If you think there are too many streaming services, guess how many podcasts are available. Roughly 2.5 million, according to reports. But here’s the thing: There’s a podcast for everyone.

I loved the TV show “West Wing.” So when I learned in 2016 that a podcast was created to rewatch and examine each episode, I was hooked. The same applies to sports. The team you root for surely has podcasts devoted to it. Some are run by reporters who cover the team, others by fans who bleed the colors of the team. Some are good, others not so much.

But they’re perfect for the fans who aren’t served by sports radio. For example, in the ’90s, I was among the Blackhawks fans jealous of all the attention the media gave the Bulls. There were few, if any, places to listen to hockey talk in this city. Now there are a number of podcasts dedicated to the Hawks.

Those would’ve been nice to have during that ’92 playoff run.

Sideline reporters

The men and women who roam the boundaries of play, braving the elements, take a lot of flak for being superfluous parts of a game broadcast. But often, viewers have no idea they’re adding to the broadcast when it’s the announcers who are weaving in the information they obtained.

Granted, some reports aren’t very insightful. But the best reporters keep a keen eye on the sidelines or benches and either share their discovery themselves or relay it to the producer. They’re a must in football games, and hockey broadcasts have benefitted greatly from reporters or analysts between the benches, who see and hear things those in the booth can’t.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who brings sports into our homes.

Remote patrol

The IHSA championship football games will air live Friday on The U (Channel 26.2 or 48.1) and Saturday on CW26 (Channel 26.1) from Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Classes 1A-4A play Friday and 5A-8A play Saturday. Games are scheduled for 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 and 7 each day.

Chris Vosters takes a break from the Hawks to call Illinois-Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for Big Ten Network. He’ll be joined by analyst Brock Vereen and reporter Meghan McKeown.

Mitch Rosen, program director at The Score, was promoted to vice president of Audacy-owned BetQL Network, where he’ll oversee content and distribution. Rosen will remain with The Score.

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The debate over whether Justin Fields should play or not with a separated shoulder is a lot more spirited outside of Halas Hall than within.

“If he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. And if he’s not, he’s not,” Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said Thursday. “We’re gonna play the game the way we know how to play the game. We’ll see whatever the medical team and Ryan [Poles] and Flus [coach Matt Eberflus] have to say, [and] that’s what we’ll do.”

Getsy said he did not know whether Fields or back-up quarterback Trevor Siemian will start against the Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. But it was a non-issue for him, even though Fields and Siemian have contrasting styles that would impact preparation and play-calling.

“It’s like any position,” Getsy said. “[This is] not the first time that we’ve been faced with this with other positions. Just approaching it the same way. We’re getting ready. We’re ready for whichever way we have to go with this thing in the end.”

Fields, who separated his left (non-throwing) shoulder when he was hit late in the game against the Falcons on Sunday, was limited in practice Thursday. But in the early portions of practice open to the media, he looked functionally able to play the position.

“He’s preparing right now to be the starter this week,” guard Teven Jenkins said. “His work ethic never changes and that’s what I really respect about him.”

Fields historically he has played through injuries and/or recovered quickly from them.

But with the Bears 3-8 and rebuilding, it doesn’t seem worth the risk to subject a player as valuable as Fields to a Jets defense that is fourth in the NFL in sacks (32) and second in quarterback hits (81).

But both Eberflus and Getsy said that was not a concern.

“They obviously have a really good defense,” Eberflus said. “A very good front. Their linebacker level is really good. They are really good in the secondary. They are in the top 10 in a lot of categories on defense. If he’s ready, he’s ready. That’s not going to factor into it.”

Getsy doesn’t have a say in that decision. “Whatever they tell me, that’s what I rock and roll with,” he said. “If they tell me he’s ready to play, he’s ready to play. If they say he’s not, he’s not. I don’t get to make those decisions.”

There is a bit of gamesmanship involved in this scenario, with the uncertainty forcing the Jets to prepare for two different quarterbacks. But Getsy said that same uncertainty has no impact on the Bears’ preparation.

“You always have to be ready,” he said. “Trevor’s been the back-up since we started this year. At any moment he could always go in. If you knew one guy was playing over the other, maybe your game plan gets more specific, but we’re good knowing either way.”

Siemian has started 29 games in his eight-year NFL career with the Broncos (13-11), Jets (0-1) and Saints (0-4). He has not started in a year — a 31-6 loss with the Saints against the Bills on Thanksgiving last season at the Superdome.

In five games in place of injured starter Jameis Winston last season, Siemian had an 86.0 passer rating (57.2% completions, 216.6 yards per game, nine touchdowns, three interceptions), but was 0-4 as a starter before being replaced by Taysom Hill.

“This is a guy that played a lot of ball last year,” Getsy said. “Had a lot of success, throwing the ball around the yard a little bit. That game experience, you can’t replace. That’s a good crutch we get to lean on.”

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The debate over whether Justin Fields should play or not with a separated shoulder is a lot more spirited outside of Halas Hall than within.

“If he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. And if he’s not, he’s not,” Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said Thursday. “We’re gonna play the game the way we know how to play the game. We’ll see whatever the medical team and Ryan [Poles] and Flus [coach Matt Eberflus] have to say, [and] that’s what we’ll do.”

Getsy said he did not know whether Fields or back-up quarterback Trevor Siemian will start against the Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. But it was a non-issue for him, even though Fields and Siemian have contrasting styles that would impact preparation and play-calling.

“It’s like any position,” Getsy said. “[This is] not the first time that we’ve been faced with this with other positions. Just approaching it the same way. We’re getting ready. We’re ready for whichever way we have to go with this thing in the end.”

Fields, who separated his left (non-throwing) shoulder when he was hit late in the game against the Falcons on Sunday, was limited in practice Thursday. But in the early portions of practice open to the media, he looked functionally able to play the position.

“He’s preparing right now to be the starter this week,” guard Teven Jenkins said. “His work ethic never changes and that’s what I really respect about him.”

Fields historically he has played through injuries and/or recovered quickly from them.

But with the Bears 3-8 and rebuilding, it doesn’t seem worth the risk to subject a player as valuable as Fields to a Jets defense that is fourth in the NFL in sacks (32) and second in quarterback hits (81).

But both Eberflus and Getsy said that was not a concern.

“They obviously have a really good defense,” Eberflus said. “A very good front. Their linebacker level is really good. They are really good in the secondary. They are in the top 10 in a lot of categories on defense. If he’s ready, he’s ready. That’s not going to factor into it.”

Getsy doesn’t have a say in that decision. “Whatever they tell me, that’s what I rock and roll with,” he said. “If they tell me he’s ready to play, he’s ready to play. If they say he’s not, he’s not. I don’t get to make those decisions.”

There is a bit of gamesmanship involved in this scenario, with the uncertainty forcing the Jets to prepare for two different quarterbacks. But Getsy said that same uncertainty has no impact on the Bears’ preparation.

“You always have to be ready,” he said. “Trevor’s been the back-up since we started this year. At any moment he could always go in. If you knew one guy was playing over the other, maybe your game plan gets more specific, but we’re good knowing either way.”

Siemian has started 29 games in his eight-year NFL career with the Broncos (13-11), Jets (0-1) and Saints (0-4). He has not started in a year — a 31-6 loss with the Saints against the Bills on Thanksgiving last season at the Superdome.

In five games in place of injured starter Jameis Winston last season, Siemian had an 86.0 passer rating (57.2% completions, 216.6 yards per game, nine touchdowns, three interceptions), but was 0-4 as a starter before being replaced by Taysom Hill.

“This is a guy that played a lot of ball last year,” Getsy said. “Had a lot of success, throwing the ball around the yard a little bit. That game experience, you can’t replace. That’s a good crutch we get to lean on.”

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The Bears made themselves a permanent punchline by trading up to take Mitch Trubisky at No. 2 overall in the 2017 draft, then watching eventual megastar Patrick Mahomes go eight picks later to the Chiefs.

In his lone appearance at Soldier Field, he mocked them for it by counting to 10 on his fingers after rushing for a touchdown on his way to a blowout and, ultimately, a championship.

The Bears will get endless eyerolls for that error.

But it looks like they’ll be the ones laughing about the 2021 draft, when several teams declined the opportunity to take Justin Fields. He went fourth among quarterbacks that year and lasted all the way to No. 11, long after the Jets took Zach Wilson at No. 2.

It’s possible neither Fields nor Wilson will play when the Bears visit the Jets on Sunday, but for very different reasons. Fields is on a seven-game tear that has rocketed the franchise’s hopes to new heights but has a separated left (non-throwing) shoulder), while Wilson has been straight-up benched for sputtering on the field and on the mic.

It has gotten so bad for the Jets that coach Robert Saleh said Wilson needs “a reset” because he can’t fix his fundamentals and prepare for games at the same time.

“Zach’s career here is not over,” Saleh insisted. He circled back with, “This is not putting a nail in his coffin.”

If it reaches a point where the coach feels that needs to be said publicly, it’s a mess.

Imagine if that was the conversation around Fields halfway through his second season.

Instead, he has reasserted himself within that draft class. He now stands right where he did as a college star: Right there with Trevor Lawrence at the top. There’s a solid case for either of them as the NFL’ most promising second-year quarterback.

Lawrence is the more prolific passer, but Fields is the best running quarterback in the league. Lawrence is averaging 251.2 yards passing and rushing combined for the Jaguars and has produced 16 total touchdowns this season, while Fields has averaged 225.1 and put up 20.

Mac Jones has the best passer rating at 89.3, but the Bears saw how shaky his job security is when the Patriots benched him during their game last month.

Fields is almost 10 points better in passer rating for his career than Wilson, and that’s with almost half his starts coming under Matt Nagy. It’s hard to have any read on Lance, who is out for the season with a broken ankle and has played just eight games.

It was a loaded, but strange draft at the position. Lawrence and Fields were the stars of the sport. Jones had just won a championship at Alabama. But Wilson shot up draft boards despite being relatively untested at BYU, as did Lance from North Dakota State.

Lawrence held his spot as one of the most coveted quarterbacks in recent draft history and went No. 1, but Fields fell behind Wilson and Lance.

After Lance went third to the 49ers, several quarterback-needy teams bypassed Fields: the Falcons, Lions, Panthers and Broncos. They weren’t sold.

The Broncos ended up sending two first- and two second-round picks to the Seahawks to get Russell Wilson and now wish they hadn’t. The other three teams are still searching.

Going into this season, the Texans’ Davis Mills — a third-round pick out of Stanford in 2021 — was ahead of Fields statistically across the board. Now it’s not even close.

He had no guarantees when the Bears fired everyone who helped draft him and brought in general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. Now it’s hard to imagine the Bears spending their likely top-five pick in the upcoming draft on a quarterback.

Fields’ leap is a credit firstly to his own development and skill, but it’s also a result of the Bears cleaning up an egregiously bad fit between him and Nagy and bringing in Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

Nagy made the same counterintuitive mistake with Fields that he did with Trubisky by steering him away from the style of play that had worked for him his entire football life. They heard “win from the pocket” on repeat. Nagy probably had it stitched onto a throw pillow in his office.

That’s no longer a saying at Halas Hall.

Getsy is a first-time NFL offensive coordinator and Eberflus is a first-time head coach, and neither has handled everything perfectly this season, but their willingness to adjust opened the door for Fields to show his talent.

He responded with a run that could alter the course of the franchise. The Bears have averaged 25.3 points over their last seven games, up from 16 over the first four games and 21 for the entire Nagy era.

If Fields and Wilson stay on their current trajectories, the Jets will join the growing list of teams that can’t believe they missed out on such a dynamic talent.

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Rookie Trestan Ebner was undaunted by a modest debut as a replacement for injured running Khalil Herbert. Ebner gained eight yards on six carries in the Bears’ 27-24 loss to the Falcons last week.

“I was definitely encouraged,” said Ebner, a sixth-round draft pick from Baylor. “I know if you look at the stats, you’ll be like, ‘This guy didn’t do anything.’ But if you turn on the film and watch, you’ll see there was something there. When it comes to running the ball, sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not.”

Ebner was most encouraged by a tough six-yard gain on an outside-zone play in the second quarter.

“It was probably one of my least favorite plays,” he said. “I just didn’t feel comfortable running it and they called it and I actually got a decent run out of it. It was nice because I felt like I couldn’t get it right in practice and I was able to go get it in the game.”

Ebner is looking forward to another opportunity and perhaps a bigger role against the Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. If Trevor Siemian starts for injured quarterback Justin Fields, he likely will be needed more.

“I’m just glad I’m getting the reps because they’re making me feel more comfortable — even this week I feel more comfortable going into this game,” Ebner said. “It’s always nice when you can relax a little bit.”

Gordon, Brisker still out

Cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker remained in concussion protocol and did not practice again Thursday. Cornerback Jaylon Jones and safety DeAndre Houston-Carson are the likely replacements, though defensive coordinator Alan Williams mentioned Elijah Hicks, Dane Cruikshank as options at safety.

Cruikshank, who did not play against the Falcons last week because of a hamstring injury, had full participation in practice Thursday. Linebacker Sterling Weatherford (concussion) did not practice.

Jenkins ready … again

Guard Teven Jenkins, who has missed the past two games with a hip injury, practiced in full Thursday and said he is “100% right now” heading into Sunday’s game.

He was hoping to start at this time last week, but was only available in an urgent situation.

“It just started getting sore and the pain started coming back,” Jenkins said. “I wanted to go, but I couldn’t. I felt like I couldn’t do the job for my team and play all the way.”

Rookie mistake?

Gordon had seven tackles against the Falcons, including one tackle for loss. But he was called for roughing the passer when he hit Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota below the knee on a third-and-eight incompletion. It gave the Falcons a first down at the Bears 14 — though an offside penalty on Trevis Gipson would have negated the incompletion.

“No coaching point there. Stay on your feet,” defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. ‘Good athletes stay on their feet. He’s a great athlete, so just stay on your feet, run through the target area, stay up.”

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Back in training camp and during the opening weeks of this season, Patrick Kane raved about how much happier and healthier the Blackhawks’ collective mood was compared to last season.

That was when the Hawks were winning, though. Since that 4-2-0 start, they’ve gone 2-8-3, including a horrendous meltdown Wednesday against the Stars — their fifth straight loss.

So how does Kane feel now?

“It’s always better when you win, there’s no doubt about that,” he said Wednesday. “We’re into the midst of the season right now where there’s a lot of games. We still hang out with the team quite a bit, especially when you’re on the road, but there’s not as many set days for that. We did a lot of that at the beginning of the season, which is good for a new group, and now we’re just in the middle of it.”

In other words, he’s not as chipper as he was earlier this fall, but he isn’t miserable, either.

He certainly doesn’t seem like a man eager to jump ship out of Chicago, which is notable as the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline slowly grows closer. With his no-movement clause intact, he still holds all the cards when it comes to that decision.

“I’m happy to be playing hockey,” he added. “It’s what I love to do. I’ll try to help this team as much as possible. Hopefully I can help a little more going forward.”

Kane tallied an assist Wednesday for his 15th point in 19 games this season, which leads the Hawks — Max Domi ranks second with 14 points and Jonathan Toews third with 13 — but still represents a relatively slow start by Kane’s career standards. He’s on pace to finish with 65 points, down from 92 last year.

He talked earlier this month about searching for more puck touches and possession. He clarified Wednesday he’s trying to do that by verbally “demanding” the puck more often, as well as by circling lower in the neutral and defensive zones to make it easier for teammates to get it to him.

He has recorded 10 shots on goal over the Hawks’ last four games, up from his 1.6 shots-per-game average during Hawks games No. 5 to 15. (He recorded 10 in the first four games of the season, as well.) He also snapped a 10-game goal drought by scoring Sunday against the Penguins.

“I’m sure he’d feel good with a roll,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “He’s still getting opportunities every game — a guy like that is going to — and it’d be nice to see them falling consistently for him. Not just himself but also the rest of the team would breathe easier knowing that he’s getting on the board multiple times a game or week.”

One positive for Kane is that his body has held up significantly better health-wise this season. He has battled through a nagging injury for several years now, but it seems to have become less of an issue lately.

As the season grinds on, that could help him eventually elevate his scoring pace.

“Obviously I’d love to have a little bit more production, but to be honest with you, I feel better this year than I did last year,” he said. “You learn different things [over time] about your body and what’s going on and how to maintain it. [With] little injuries here and there, how to maintain them, take care of them. I’m happy with the way things have gone so far this year with my body.”

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