Wow. Just wow. Whatever that was the Chicago Bears had been feeling late Thursday evening, quarterback Justin Fields didn’t need the feeling to recede. Fields tried to explain the temper within the Bears locker room at Fed Ex Field, that intoxicating mixture of satisfaction, pleasure, reduction, unity and adrenaline.
“It just felt good,” Fields mentioned, “seeing all the hard work pay off. Especially getting a (win) after everything that has happened this year.”
Fields knew he needed these vibes to be eternal. He needed to remain moonwalking on that cloud with that ear-to-ear grin and the exhilaration pumping in sync with the music.
“It’s a feeling you never want to end,” he mentioned.
This is what Thursday evening’s emphatic 40-20 thumping of the Washington Commanders delivered for the Bears, what the tip of an 11-month, 14-game shedding streak ushered in. Exultation. Fulfillment. Pride. It was all to be grabbed and appreciated, all to be carried ahead.
There was an unmistakable feeling of hope for the Bears. And within the second, it was inflicting Fields’ coronary heart to blow up with gratitude.
“It just feels good when you can say the hard work paid off,” he reiterated. “I am proud of everybody in the building. I love everybody on my team. Players. Coaches. Shoot, everybody upstairs. I might not even know ‘em. But I love you all.”
On the best way out of Washington on Thursday evening, Fields and the Bears had 10 days to hold that constructive power ahead, 10 days till their subsequent take a look at, 10 days to squeeze each final drop of enjoyment out of the 451 yards the offense put up and the 5 sacks and two takeaways the protection supplied.
“This feels so good, man,” mentioned cornerback Greg Stroman Jr., who had a second-quarter interception and a third-quarter sack of Commanders quarterback Sam Howell. “It’s an amazing thing to get that win. Now we have to stay here. Just stay here in this moment with this feeling and take it onto the next game. Keep doing all the good things we do and remember how to finish.”
‘This feels good’
It will take time to get a real big-picture interpretation of what the victory actually meant. Don’t overlook, the Bears’ earlier win — by three scores, on the highway, on a brightly lit prime-time stage — additionally carried related pleasure and felt like an arrival of its personal. In Week 7 final season, the Bears walked out of Gillette Stadium with a 33-14 “Monday Night Football” thumping of Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots with confidence that the whole three-phase efficiency signified a breakthrough.
“This feels good,” Fields mentioned after that win. “Everybody’s excited. I’m just proud of the way our guys came out and started the game and, of course, how we finished.”
Then, someway, none of it actually translated. The Bears misplaced the ultimate 10 video games of the season and their first 4 this 12 months.
So, sure, this group’s capability to remain targeted and constant can be challenged over the following few months.
Still, after an embarrassing, blunder-filled September, the primary 5 days of October have given the Bears justifiable perception that they will proceed surging. Start first with the upcoming schedule. Week 6 at house in opposition to the Minnesota Vikings. Week 7 at house in opposition to the Las Vegas Raiders. A Week 8 journey to Los Angeles to face the Chargers. Week 9 in New Orleans. A go to from the Carolina Panthers in a brief week in Week 10.
A license to assume massive has returned to Chicago.
There are few causes to consider the Bears can’t stand up and win three of these video games, proper? Maybe 4? With the best way the offense is taking part in now, the progress feels actual. What a groove Fields and Co. have discovered hastily, racking up 922 complete yards and 68 factors over a five-day span.
After scoring 5 touchdowns over 32 possessions within the first three video games, the Bears have scored eight TDs the final two outings.
Fields, in the meantime, has began October on fireplace with a .672 completion share plus 617 passing yards and eight landing passes in video games in opposition to the Broncos and Commanders. That despatched him into this weekend in a tie with Kirk Cousins for the NFL lead in TD passes.
In September, Fields accomplished solely 58% of his passes, averaging 175 passing yards and one landing per sport.
Plus, it’s not simply the manufacturing. It’s the best way Fields is passing the attention take a look at along with his motion and imaginative and prescient, with the decisiveness of his throws into tight areas, along with his capability to show command and make performs in so many alternative methods.
“You can tell Justin is seeing things well out there,” mentioned tight finish Cole Kmet, who caught a 4-yard landing cross Thursday. “I think he’s confident with the scheme in place and the things we’re doing with the run and the pass. He is making all the right checks. And he’s in sync with the guys he’s throwing to.”
Added Bears coach Matt Eberflus: “You can just see the confidence. When you have growth in your profession … you can just feel it. And you can feel it in the guys around him, the comfort level and the confidence that they’re having, the chemistry they’re having.”
It doesn’t harm that the offensive line appears to be solidifying with guard Nate Davis again rolling and Teven Jenkins dealing with 37 snaps in his Thursday evening return from injured reserve.
There has additionally, seemingly, been an offensive identification crystallizing with coordinator Luke Getsy working in additional designed quarterback runs, play-action passes and pocket-moving ideas for Fields to make the most of.
And after all, sure, there was DJ Moore, who exploded for 230 receiving yards and three touchdowns Thursday and is on tempo to set single-season franchise data in each classes. Man, was Moore’s presence felt Thursday, with massive play after massive play, landing after landing after landing.
“Any time we can get him the ball, let’s get him the ball,” Fields mentioned. “One, he’s a great receiver. We all know that. But two, with the football in his hands, he’s able to make guys miss.”
Momentum surge
When the excessive from Thursday’s win begins to fade, the Bears will return to middle and proceed their grounded grind with an understanding of how steep their climb stays and the way baby victory will imply in the event that they don’t construct on it.
This is Chicago and these are the Bears. Which makes it paramount that perspective stays a part of the dialog.
Consistency is the hallmark of excellent NFL groups. And the Bears must keep nimble sufficient to adapt to how opponents may start adapting to them. Offensively the evolution should stay steady, and Fields’ progress can’t have many dips of regression.
“It’s just stacking games like he has had the last two,” Eberflus mentioned. “Just keep stacking them up. That’s what he wants to see and what we want to see.”
On protection, in the meantime, the Bears should discover methods to make game-changing contributions an everyday incidence. That’s why Stroman’s interception late within the first half Thursday proved so pivotal. It got here instantly after the Bears constructed their result in 20-3 on a 36-yard Cairo Santos discipline objective. Stroman then set the offense up with possession on the Commanders 36, selecting off a cross over the center to Curtis Samuel and the Bears shortly transformed that right into a six-play landing drive.
“Coach always talks about complementary football,” Stroman mentioned. “That was one of those moments.”
In the third quarter, rookie cornerback Terell Smith did his half, too, ripping the ball from Commanders tight finish Logan Thomas as he tried to churn out extra yardage from a brief completion.
The Bears additionally discovered a number of moments of excellent fortune Thursday, these constructive twists of destiny that appeared so fleeting throughout their 14-game shedding streak.
A wild shotgun snap from Cody Whitehair within the third quarter? No drawback. Fields used his athleticism to get his fingertips on the ball, then gathered the deflection and turned it into an 8-yard scramble and a primary down.
With the Commanders threatening to rally within the fourth? A 41-yard pass-interference flag in opposition to rookie Tyrique Stevenson was picked up by the officers. Instead of getting first-and-10 from the Bears 13 with an opportunity to shut inside 30-27, the Commanders needed to reset. Four performs later, operating again Antonio Gibson dropped a third-down cross, and kicker Joey Slye then pushed a 46-yard field-goal try huge proper.
Instead of feeling the strain of out of the blue being in a one-score sport, the Bears retained a double-digit lead, then pushed it to 3 scores when Fields hit Moore for the win-sealing 56-yard landing cross on third-and-2 with 4:18 remaining.
Even that play appeared dicey for a second with Kendall Fuller breaking on Fields’ cross and looking out like he might need an opportunity to intercept it. Instead, Moore took it the other way for six factors.
“Sometimes it just happens that way,” Eberflus mentioned. “But you create your own luck with how you work and how you prepare. And if you put your playmakers in position to make those plays in certain situations, they make them.”
That’s a part of the explanation the Bears locker room grew to become a dance social gathering late Thursday evening. That’s why the workforce’s beginning quarterback was describing the thrill of the entire workforce and the love he had for everyone.
That form of elation was a lot wanted. And lengthy overdue.
“I’m proud of the guys for the game that they had,” Eberflus mentioned. “Again, this is momentum. We have to build upon this.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com