On his last go of a difficult evening, Justin Fields knew he had one accountability, one obligation to his staff, one likelihood to creator the ending of Monday’s tense and sloppy recreation with the Minnesota Vikings.
Make a rattling play.
Just make yet one more play. Of any type.
That was all Fields wanted to do, even with all of the stress that was intensifying — from the Vikings protection, from his personal miscues earlier within the fourth quarter, from the burden of so many earlier video games the Chicago Bears had their likelihood to win however couldn’t.
Just make a play.
After doing so many issues improper Monday, after once more stumbling to the sting of the cliff in a winnable recreation, the Bears had their last likelihood to steal a win at U.S. Bank Stadium. And the ball was in Fields’ arms close to midfield, along with his staff down some extent and the clock ticking inside a minute.
On third-and-10, Fields saved his nerves calm and his eyes up. A seven-man safety stonewalled a four-man Minnesota rush. And with the Vikings bailing backward of their zone protection, Fields noticed precisely what he wished — prime receiver DJ Moore breaking crisply towards the center of the sphere and left alone on his route.
There it was. The play was proper there.
“I’m just locked in,” Fields stated. “There’s no feeling. It’s just straight tunnel vision locked into that moment.”
From his personal 43-yard line, Fields ripped a fastball into an enormous window. Moore, along with his eyes as large as dinner plates, couldn’t imagine that second of reality had unfolded so completely as Vikings cornerback Camryn Bynum caught with Tyler Scott on a nook route.
“They left me wide open,” Moore stated. “I don’t think that was a smart choice.”
Fields’ go hit Moore’s arms, numbers excessive, on the Vikings 26 with no defenders inside 4 yards of him. The receiver barreled forward for 13 extra yards to complete the 36-yard completion, successfully positioning the Bears to seal their 12-10 victory.
Three clock-killing kneel-downs adopted and, with 10 seconds remaining, Bears kicker Cairo Santos nailed a 30-yard subject objective — his fourth of the evening — to complete the triumph.
Fields famous that last completion got here on a play the Bears offense has felt assured operating because the summer time. “We’ve hit that in practice multiple times on our defense and in the 2-minute situation,” Fields stated. “So it’s just going back to those banked reps and everybody succeeding when we needed to.”
Moore stated he was about 10 yards into his route when he acquired a way he was about to spring open.
“I was like ‘something ain’t right about this,’” he stated. “I looked up and was like, ‘Shoot. There’s nobody in the middle. Well, this deep-in is going to be in the middle.’ We connected on it and the rest is history.”
For now, this stands as certainly one of Fields’ most important moments within the seven video games he has gained because the Bears beginning quarterback.
Technically, he entered Monday with two profession game-winning drives. But the latest — in Week 3 final season — was a four-play, 0-yard go-ahead subject objective drive arrange by a Roquan Smith interception in a 23-20 win over the Houston Texans.
Two weeks earlier, he additionally completed a go-ahead 84-yard landing drive early within the fourth quarter of a 19-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. But heroics within the last minutes? Fields had been late-game tragic much more typically in his profession than he had produced late-game magic.
Monday’s recreation appeared headed for the same and acquainted consequence, too, after Fields misplaced two fumbles in essential moments.
The first, on a strip sack by Vikings defensive finish Danielle Hunter, prevented the Bears from rising their result in two scores with lower than 10 minutes remaining. That turnover got here 4 snaps after rookie operating again Roschon Johnson had the soccer punched from his arms. Fortunately for the Bears, heart Lucas Patrick recovered that one.
Said Fields: “I said to (Roschon), ‘Ball security is the most important thing right now.’ Then (a few) plays later I fumble.”
The Vikings promptly turned that turnover into the evening’s solely landing with a 77-yard drive punctuated by a 17-yard T.J. Hockenson reception from Josh Dobbs. That gave the Vikings their first lead.
On the Bears’ subsequent possession, Fields fumbled once more, this time on the finish of a 6-yard scramble when he was popped by linebacker Josh Metellus. Anthony Barr dived on it.
Vikings ball. Again. That felt crushing.
“I was sick to my stomach,” Fields stated. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
Still, it doesn’t matter what was happening in Fields’ abdomen, he knew his mind simply needed to be cleared. Especially with the Bears protection doing its half, forcing a fast three-and-out and getting the ball again in 59 seconds.
Suddenly, the Bears’ seven penalties within the recreation have been irrelevant. The missed alternatives of turning 4 takeaways by the protection into solely three factors didn’t matter. The offense’s sputtering rhythm for a lot of the evening didn’t should be deadly.
Fields wished one other shot along with his focus dialed in.
“I really just wanted to prove to my teammates that I had their back,” he stated. “… When you do get that opportunity at the end of the game, everything (that happened) before that is out the window.”
On the primary go of the ultimate drive, Fields prolonged the play, acquired exterior the pocket, then discovered Moore for 16 yards. He added two runs for 13 yards, then had two helter-skelter incompletions earlier than his longest and most significant go of the evening. The one to Moore for 36.
Fields made a play, which helped the Bears produce their most significant win of the season.
“(Justin) had a great bounce-back,” stated Moore, who turned his 11 catches into 114 yards. “He had the fumbles. But he came back like a true leader does, like somebody on the rise as a young quarterback. He just blocked that out and made that throw.”
Added tight finish Cole Kmet: “That’s what this league is. Despite whatever else happens, you have to stay in it. Stay in it, stay in it, stay in it. Then you have to find a way to win at the end.”
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who had one of many Bears’ 4 interceptions, watched that final drive and the ultimate Fields completion to Moore and beloved every thing he noticed.
“Honestly, I felt like this feels a little better considering what (Justin) did after those two turnovers,” Johnson stated. “Because that’s disheartening, especially for him wanting to be at the level he knows he can play at. But then coming back and making that big throw? I think was bigger than just a game-winning drive. This was about his resilience, being able to stick to it and deliver that ball when and where he needed to.”
Without a terrific defensive effort, after all, the Bears would have been doomed Monday evening. Yet with the sport on the road and few alternatives left, Fields and Moore met the second. They made a play to win the sport.
“We got the finish part down,” Moore stated. “Now we can see it. We can touch on it and grasp it. We want to see that more moving forward.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com