Bears HC–let’s keep doing more of the same! We’re going to rely on Fields to do his best not to get hit…
All that was a recipe to get Fields hit. A lot. Three weeks ago, Fields was fresh and able to use his speed and athleticism to avoid taking big shots. But he seemed a step slow Sunday in Atlanta, and the Falcons made sure he felt them.
Then came the Bears’ final drive, where offensive coordinator Luke Getsy dialed up a QB sweep on first down. Fields ran left and was hit going out of bounds. He fell on his left shoulder after a gain of 1 yard. On the next play, Fields ran a draw up the middle, slid down, and was hammered late. But there was no flag.
The second-year quarterback suffered a left shoulder injury. His status is “day-to-day,” but the Bears haven’t ruled out a season-ending injury.
All that for 5 yards.
Excessively running your quarterback is a recipe for disaster. But the Bears don’t have second thoughts about how they have used Fields.
“You got to balance that,” Eberflus said Monday. "And I’ve said that since we started this, since that New England game. You got to be smart about what you’re doing. I’m still saying the same thing. You got to be smart. You got to stay out of harm’s way. And we’re constantly talking to him about that, because he is an aggressive guy, and he’s strong and all those things, but he is our quarterback.
“We got to make sure that he does get to the sideline and works himself out, and when he is on the middle part of the field, slide. He did a pretty good job of that yesterday, but he was in harm’s way a couple times.”
***** the article continues:
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury running QB power in Week 2. The 49ers had run Lance at a 1:2 pass-run ratio early in his career. Fields has been around a 1:3 ratio over the past month, give or take some decimal points based on your film service.
That’s just too many opportunities to bring catastrophe into play.
The purpose of implementing the quarterback run was to inject life into the offense, get Fields some confidence, and use the threat of it to open up the passing game.
Instead, the Bears kept going back to the well, and eventually, it went dry. Fields is tough, but he can only take so much punishment. As his legs got heavy and defenses adjusted, the hits became more frequent until Sunday, when he crashed to the ground on his left shoulder.
If Fields does play again this season, the Bears have to do a better job of protecting him from defenders and himself. That starts with using the QB run game sparingly. As one of many tools, not your only hammer.
The Bears might not be willing to publicly admit the playcalling Sunday played a role in Fields’ injury. But they need to be self-aware enough to realize it did and be willing to adjust it when Fields returns.
Protecting Justin Fields starts with not putting him in harm’s way in the first place unless absolutely necessary. The future is too important to jeopardize his health in meaningless games in Year 1 of a rebuild.
