Never fear, Justin Fields is back. And that makes the Bears’ game against the Eagles worth watching.

The Bears got a brief, bitter taste of what life would be like without Fields last month when he missed a game because of a separated shoulder and Trevor Siemian sputtered through a forgettable loss to the Jets in which nothing whatsoever was accomplished.

The games themselves don’t mean anything in the standings for the 3-10 Bears at this point, but every snap Fields takes is an exhilarating peek into their future. He missed practice Wednesday with an unspecified illness, leaving Nathan Peterman to run the offense, but returned Thursday and said he felt “perfectly fine” with no lingering effects from fighting what he described as cold-like symptoms for a couple days.

Fields makes everything more intriguing, and now the familiar stage is set for the Bears on Sunday: Their opponent will roll up 30-40 points and everyone will watch to see if Fields can keep up.

It’s a terrible predicament for Fields and the team — a perfect recipe for finishing in last place — but it’s undeniably entertaining.

He’s almost certain to be in that bind this week against the Eagles, who lead the NFL in scoring at 29.7 points per game and piled up 123 points over their last three.

“We have a challenge every week with offenses but this week, yeah, both hands are full,” Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. “I’m not quite sure that they have any weaknesses.”

The Eagles also have an elite defense, by the way, and that’s what makes this interesting for Fields.

“Any chance you get to go up against a team like this, it’s awesome just to see what we can do now,” he said. “We’re going to go in there swinging, so they know that. They know that we’re not just going to lay down.

“I’m excited to see what I can do.”

Fields turned a corner after a dismal first four games and has played promisingly over his last eight: 66% completion rate, 178.1 yards per game, 11 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 94.9 passer rating, plus 94.8 yards rushing per game and seven touchdown runs.

But the disclaimer on that run is that he hasn’t faced hardly any defense even close to the Eagles’ level. There were three opponents in the top-10 in fewest points allowed but everyone else was in the bottom third of the NFL. Of Fields’ top four passer ratings this season, just one came against a defense ranked higher than 25th in that category.

The Eagles are No. 1 in that department, allowing a 76.3 rating for the season with no one reaching triple figures. No quarterback has thrown for more than 250 yards against them.

That’s what makes this game relevant regardless of the Bears’ record and the egregious mismatch. It’s another test for Fields, and it’ll show whether he has come as far as it seems.

“Every opportunity he’s gotten to get on the field and play, we feel like the entire offense [has played] a little bit better together,” offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. “When you have the quarterback growing, that’s going to help the rest of the unit grow. He’s continued to do that, and we have to make sure he stays on that path.”

The path of any season inevitably winds through the rough terrain of defenses like this. The Eagles are a tremendous adversary, but they’re far from a once-in-a-lifetime opponent. There will be others, and Fields must prove he can rise to that level.

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Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson has many qualities, but being versatile and coachable are two of defensive coordinator Alan Williams’ favorites.

“He’s been fantastic about going in different places and doing different things,” Williams said. “Sometimes he’s been on the left side. Sometimes he’s been on the right side. Sometimes he’s been on the boundary. Sometimes he’s gone with a specific receiver. He is great about doing that. Every corner in the NFL will not do that.”

That’s all well and good, but this week Johnson has a very specific idea of what he wants to do — cover Eagles receiver A.J. Brown.

“A hundred percent. No question,” Johnson said immediately when asked if he wants that assignment Sunday when the Bears play the NFC-leading Eagles at Soldier Field.

Asked if he was getting the assignment he wants, Johnson said, “We’re gonna see. I hope we do.”

Brown, the former Titans Pro Bowl receiver who was acquired in a trade in the offseason, has 65 receptions for 1,020 yards and 10 touchdowns. His average of 15.7 yards per catch leads all NFL receivers with 40 or more receptions.

The Bears aren’t going to reveal their defensive strategy and the Eagles have another threat who could necessitate Johnson’s attention in DeVonta Smith (66-775, five touchdowns). But Brown is the matchup Johnson wants. And he makes no doubt why.

“I feel like I’m the best. And they feel like they’re the best. So why not go at it,” Johnson said. “I want to prove myself as one of the best corners in the league. And you’ve got to go against the best to do it. That’s my goal every week.”

The 6-1, 226-pound Brown, the 51st overall pick of the 2019 draft a year after the Bears took Anthony Miller at No. 51 in 2018, has three 100-yard games this season — against the Lions (10-155), Steelers (6-156, three touchdowns) and Titans (8-119, two touchdowns).

“I’m sure they’ll end up against each other at some point,” Bears secondary coach James Rowe said. “Jaylon Johnson is the type of guy that loves to take on a challenge. He’s gonna have one this week and I’m excited to see him step up.”

Whenever they match up, Johnson knows what he’s up against. “A big guy who’s gonna make good, contested catches,” he said. “Definitely physical at the top of routes. He’s going to try to use his size, and he’s really good after the catch, extending plays. He’s a playmaker and a big guy.”

The 6-0, 196-pound Johnson is physical as well, but it will take more than might to win this battle, or even contain Brown.

“Obviously Jaylon has some physical gifts as well as A.J. Brown,” Rowe said, “and Jaylon’s super smart. He’s probably one of the smartest people in our building, and that helps you be a better football player.”

Johnson does not hide his desire to shadow premier receivers, but he doesn’t have to lobby the coaches. They know.

“That’s just understood,” Rowe said. “He wants the challenge. He’s not scared of it. I know he probably wants to travel [with the best receiver] every week and we try to put him in the best situation for the defense. I’m happy he’s enough of a team player to do whatever needs to be done to help us win the game.”

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Thursday, December 15, 2022

BIG NORTHERN

Dixon at Stillman Valley, 7:00

CHICAGO PREP

Holy Trinity at Hope Academy, 7:00

KISHWAUKEE RIVER

Marengo at Woodstock North, 7:00

Richmond-Burton at Woodstock, 7:00

LAKE SHORE ATHLETIC

Lycee Francais at Christian Heritage, 6:00

LITTLE TEN

Indian Creek at IMSA, 7:00

NOBLE LEAGUE – BLUE

Noble Street at Mansueto, 7:00

NOBLE LEAGUE – GOLD

Comer at Bulls Prep, 7:00

ITW-Speer at Butler, 7:00

NORTH SUBURBAN

Lake Forest at Stevenson, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED-SOUTH / CENTRAL

Hyde Park at Morgan Park, 6:30

Lindblom at Brooks, 5:00

Longwood at Phillips, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-CENTRAL

Catalyst-Maria at DuSable, 5:00

Dunbar at Urban Prep-Englewood, 5:00

Hubbard at Bogan, 5:00

Kennedy at King, 5:00

Richards (Chgo) at Englewood STEM, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-SOUTH

Corliss at Urban Prep-Bronzeville, 5:00

Dyett at Agricultural Science, 5:00

Fenger at Vocational, 5:00

Harlan at UC-Woodlawn, 5:00

South Shore at ACE Amandla, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-CENTRAL

Gage Park at Tilden, 5:00

Hancock at Excel-Englewood, 5:00

Horizon-Southwest at Back of the Yards, 5:00

Instituto Health at ACERO-Garcia, 5:00

Solorio at Kelly, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-SOUTH

Bowen at Goode, 6:30

EPIC at Air Force, 5:00

Excel-South Shore at Chicago Military, 5:00

Carver at Hirsch, 5:00

Washington at Julian, 5:00

UPSTATE EIGHT

Bartlett at Streamwood, 7:00

Glenbard East at Fenton, 7:00

Glenbard South at Elgin, 7:00

Larkin at East Aurora, 6:30

South Elgin at West Chicago, 7:00

NON CONFERENCE

Aurora Central at Montini, 6:30

DRW Prep at Manley, 5:00

Families of Faith at Momence, 7:00

Francis Parker at Elmwood Park, 7:00

Grayslake Central at Johnsburg, 7:30

Lowpoint-Washburn at Deland-Weldon, 5:30

Mooseheart at Aurora Christian, 7:30

Rochelle Zell at Intrinsic-Belmont, 6:30

Westminster Christian at Westlake Christian, 7:30

Winnebago at Lena-Winslow, 7:00

BENTONVILLE (AR)

Young vs. Fayetteville (AR), 8:30

LAKES

Waukegan at Lakes, 7:00

SCOTTSDALE SAGUARO (AZ)

New Trier vs. Carl Hayden (AZ), 3:30M

WATSEKA

at Milford

Iroquois West vs. Donovan, 4:30

Milford vs. Hoopeston, 5:45

Westville vs. Iroquois West, 7:00

St. Anne vs. Milford, 8:15

at Watseka

Cissna Park vs. McNamara, 4:30

Horizon-Southwest vs. Illinois Lutheran, 5:45

McNamara vs. Tri-Point, 7:00

Watseka vs. Horizon-Southwest, 8:15

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Luke Richardson passed all his early tests as Blackhawks coach in impressive fashion.

He brought to Chicago some fresh ideas for effective new systems to implement, giving players clearer roles and instructions for different situations. He built a diverse yet functional staff, established reliable lines of communication, improved the Hawks’ video sessions and experienced some surprising early success.

Different parts of Richardson’s coaching abilities, however, are now being tested.

The Hawks keep losing, and that interminable losing is understandably affecting morale. Their 7-16-4 record (entering Thursday) isn’t his fault in the slightest — considering this roster was designed during the offseason to be this awful — but it nonetheless is his problem to deal with.

On the day he was hired, some unenviable, difficult tasks clearly laid ahead of him. He’d need to strike a delicate balance between optimism and realism. He’d need to accept his roster’s many weaknesses while not letting that discourage him from fixing things whenever possible. And he’d need to maintain a healthy team culture fostering hard work, development and unity in the face of regular failure.

Those future challenges are now present challenges. And as he discussed during an introspective interview Wednesday, he’s learning on the fly how to tackle them.

“[I’m finding out] maybe you’ve got to push them a little harder some days, maybe you’ve got to pull back [some days],” he said. “But it’s all Monday-morning quarterbacking. You don’t know until it’s over. So that’s when you learn and you try to add that to your thought process going forward.

“It’s a long season, and I’m going to learn a lot this year. Right now, it’s [about] just managing a lineup, and trying to keep it consistent and my message consistent so those guys…feel comfortable and they know what’s expected of them on the ice.”

One Richardson strategy to juggle those unenviable tasks entails focusing on performance more than scoreboard results.

If the Hawks lose but play relatively well — as has happened numerous times over the past month — that’s worth some praise and positivity. And if the Hawks lose and play poorly — as was the case Tuesday against the Capitals — then, well, at least Wednesday isn’t Tuesday.

“Yesterday morning was rainy here, but I said, ‘The sun kind of came up today,'” he joked Thursday. “It didn’t really, but it did. It’s a new day and we have to get ready to play a game.”

On the other hand, he is also getting bolder about making lineup changes. Mid-game Tuesday, for example, he split up the first defensive pairing of Seth Jones and Jack Johnson (which had been a constant for weeks) after an ill-advised double-pinch led to a Capitals two-on-none rush.

And he’s not letting that reframed approach toward evaluating games evolve into complacency or lower expectations. His demands of his players remain the same, no matter how bleak the standings get: bring your ‘A’-game, every game.

“That’s expected of them [and] everybody in this league,” he said. “If you can’t do that over and over again — it’s not a threat, it’s just a matter of fact — someone else is going to take your job. And that’s the same as coaching. Coaching is the shortest lifelong job in hockey. You’ve got to have results; otherwise, patience runs out and you have to make chances somewhere.

“You just have to go to the rink every day, give it your best and make sure that you trust that the other person is giving their best. [There can be] no second-guessing from me to the players, or from the players to us. That’s the only way you can [operate] in a team sport. It’s not tennis or golf, unfortunately.”

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LOS ANGELES — Billie Moore, who coached the first U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team to a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Games, has died. She was 79.

UCLA, where Moore was the women’s head coach from 1977-93, announced Thursday that she died from cancer at home Wednesday night in Fullerton, California, surrounded by family and friends.

Moore was the first coach in women’s basketball history to lead teams from two different schools to national championships. She guided Cal State Fullerton to the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women title in 1970 and UCLA to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) title in 1978.

Moore was inducted in both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

She began her coaching career as an assistant at Southern Illinois. Moore then spent eight seasons at Cal State Fullerton, where she went 140-15. Moore led UCLA to a 27-3 mark in 1978 and posted a record 296 victories in her 16 years with the Bruins. In her 24-year career, she finished with a 436-196 record.

Moore guided the U.S. women’s Olympic team at the Montreal Games nearly a half century ago. Her team featured trailblazers of the game — Pat Summitt, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Nancy Lieberman, who went 3-2 and finished runner up to the powerhouse Soviet Union team (5-0).

USA Basketball said in a statement it was “proud to have been part of (Moore’s) journey. Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this difficult time.”

The current U.S. Olympic coach, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, said on social media that women’s basketball “lost a legend today in Billie Moore … thank you coach for servicing our game with class, dignity and purpose.”

Staley’s team captured the seventh straight women’s gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

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The Bears don’t have many stars, or even semi-stars left, but one of those precious few is now very much in question for the game against the Eagles on Sunday.

It could’ve been viewed as precautionary when wide receiver Chase Claypool missed practice Wednesday, but he was out again Thursday because of a knee injury. Bears coach Matt Eberflus has mostly avoided playing players who didn’t practice.

The odd part about Claypool’s injury is that he finished the game in which he suffered it. His right knee got twisted on a catch in the second quarter against the Packers two weeks ago, but he came back and played with a brace on it.

It’s yet another hindrance to the Bears fully incorporating him into their offense. Since trading a second-round pick to the Steelers for him Nov. 1, Claypool has just 12 catches for 111 yards in five games. He is averaging fewer targets (4.4) with the Bears than the Steelers (6.3), and his main frustration in Pittsburgh was the lack of opportunity.

The Bears are severely diminished at the position after Darnell Mooney’s season-ending injury. If Claypool is out Sunday, the Bears’ top three wide receivers likely would be Equanimeous St. Brown (17 catches this season), Dante Pettis (14) and Byron Pringle (five).

The missed practice time itself is problematic for Claypool given that Eberflus said this week he wasn’t fully up to speed on the offense, and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy agreed Thursday.

“He’s probably not where the other guys are, but as far as knowing what to do and how to do it, he’s in pretty good shape,” Getsy said. “He can handle most of the offense. Now, how fast that absorbs when he hears the play call, I’m sure that’s not up to the [necessary] level.”

Montgomery out sick

Another notable player is also in question: Running back David Montgomery.

He missed practice Thursday because of an unspecified illness, leaving the Bears staggeringly shorthanded at that position because Khalil Herbert is still on injured reserve. Herbert is eligible to return against the Bills next week.

Sixth-round pick Trestan Ebner is next in line. In three games without Herbert, Ebner played 17 snaps on offense and ran six times for eight yards.

In that same span, Montgomery ran for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 45 carries and caught 10 passes for 94 yards. He is second on the team to quarterback Justin Fields in total offense with 885 yards.

Leatherwood or Reiff?

The Bears are staying secretive about their plans at right tackle, though there’d be good reason for them to give Alex Leatherwood his first start of the season. They opened the season with Larry Borom in that spot, then switched to veteran Riley Reiff in Week 8, but worked Leatherwood in for 10 snaps against the Packers.

“We’re always going to do what we feel gives us the best opportunity to win, but I’m extremely interested to see where he can go,” Getsy said. “We’ve seen him get better each and every week, so the opportunities will continue to grow for him.”

Leatherwood, 23, was the No. 17 overall pick last year by the Raiders, and the Bears claimed him off waivers in August. He’s under contract through 2024.

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Surveillance video released Thursday shows a member of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s security detail breaking up a robbery last month in Logan Square, shooting out the window of the getaway car during an exchange of gunfire.

Three robbers pulled up to the 1800 block of North Monticello Avenue on the morning of Nov. 1 and began rifling through a parked car after pulling the sole occupant out at gunpoint, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the videos released by the agency.

Officers at the Mayor’s Detail and Command Center heard someone yelling for help and saw the robbery, COPA said in a statement. After one of the suspects opened fire, the cops shot back.

Video from city cameras show the robbery victim being tossed to the ground shortly before one of the cops fires five shots that shatter the front passenger window of the fleeing SUV.

COPA noted that one of the suspects fired again as they made their escape, and the officer is seen on video falling to the ground. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The oversight agency said it was still unclear whether any of the suspects were shot.

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