Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was agency when requested in regards to the vital fourth-and-1 play within the Green Bay Packers’ 27-10 victory Sunday evening at Lambeau Field.
Did Fields suppose he crossed the objective line halfway by way of the fourth quarter?
“Yeah,” Fields stated.
How a lot would it not have modified the sport if the officers agreed?
“It changes everything,” he stated.
The Bears had been trailing 24-10 with 8 minutes, 13 seconds left once they lined up contained in the 1-yard line. Fields took a shotgun snap and surged ahead behind a scrum of gamers that included proper guard Lucas Patrick, tight finish Cole Kmet and operating again David Montgomery. Fields wriggled ahead towards the road, however officers dominated he didn’t make it throughout.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus challenged the ruling, and the replay was proven time and again on the video board and TVs within the stadium. Ultimately, the decision on the sector stood, and the Packers went on to eat up greater than 5 minutes earlier than Mason Crosby’s 28-yard area objective made it a three-score recreation.
Any likelihood for a Bears rally petered out.
“I saw the replay up top and it looked like it was in, but there probably just wasn’t enough evidence to overturn it,” Kmet stated. “Tough call there. I thought we were gaining momentum there at the end and it would have been a good position for a comeback.”
Beyond whether or not Fields made it throughout the objective line, the play name to line up within the shotgun formation when the Bears had been contained in the 1 might be examined totally within the week forward.
Eberflus and Bears gamers stated they practiced the play all week and had been comfy with it being known as.
“You outnumber the box,” Eberflus stated. “So you’re using your quarterback as a runner. You’ve got an additional blocker, so you like your numbers in the box there. That’s why we called it. It was the best play we had right there at the time.”
Said Fields: “It’s us versus them. It’s just the trenches. It’s our O-line versus D-line and we’ll never know if I got in or not. But just a tribute to those guys for fighting on that.”
One play earlier, Fields was dominated to have scrambled for a 6-yard landing, however that replay confirmed his knee was down earlier than he hit the pylon with the soccer.
That arrange the vital play, one among many the Bears will look at within the days forward, as left guard Cody Whitehair already was able to do after the sport.
“I could have helped ID it a little bit better with the noise and stuff,” Whitehair stated. “I kind of left Braxton (Jones) out to dry over there, but we’ll get that corrected and it won’t happen again.”
The Bears wanted a determined comeback as a result of their offense couldn’t get going after scoring a landing on its first drive.
The Bears got here out within the second half intent on operating the ball, sticking with it whilst time started ticking down. David Montgomery racked up 122 yards on 15 carries — 8.1 yards per carry — and Khalil Herbert had 4 carries for 38 yards.
But Fields accomplished simply 7 of 11 passes for 70 yards with no touchdowns and a late interception. He was sacked 3 times for a lack of 22 yards. Equanimeous St. Brown was the Bears’ main receiver with two catches for 39 yards, and Darnell Mooney was the one different large receiver with a catch for minus-4 yards.
“(Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy) said before the game that we were going to run it down their throats,” Fields stated. “D-Mo, I don’t know what he ate today, but he was going crazy. O-line did a great job blocking and he did a great job running. My job isn’t to call the plays. My job is to execute the play that is given to me the best I can.”
It wasn’t almost sufficient to match Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense, which bounced again from a poor first outing in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings to place up 414 yards. Rodgers threw for 234 and two touchdowns, and Aaron Jones rushed for 132 yards and a landing.
Those numbers meant the Packers weren’t left analyzing the what-ifs of 1 play.
“We’ll let this sting for 24 hours and then get back to it tomorrow,” Kmet stated. “Just move on and keep getting better every week.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com