Justin Fields wasn’t sure what awaited him as he prepared to return from his dislocated thumb in mid-November—his season up to that point had been up and down. Most of September was ugly before he delivered two stellar games against Denver and Washington. Since then, he seems to have found a far more stable playing style. While he isn’t putting up otherworldly numbers, he hasn’t been terrible in any sense. The most important thing is the Bears are 3-2 in the last five games he’s started.
Part of his steady improvement down the stretch came from a directive from head coach Matt Eberflus. Though a defensive mind by trade, the man had a simple command he wanted his quarterback to follow. It was one he felt would give the Bears their best chance to win every week. Fields explained what it was on Wednesday.
“He gave me a thing that said, ‘200,’ which is two touchdowns, no sacks, no turnovers. That’s pretty much my goal every game. Sacks, they put us behind the sticks, of course, and you never want to turn the ball over to give the other team a short field. So definitely trying to avoid the turnovers and sacks.”
For stat-obsessed fans, this will sound ridiculous. However, it’s far from it. While Fields has yet to play a game this year where he hasn’t been sacked, there were two where he had at least two touchdowns and no turnovers. The first was against Washington, and the other was the rematch against Detroit. Both were blowout victories. Tyson Bagent met most of the criteria in the win over Las Vegas with a TD pass, no turnovers, and only one sack.
Fields is finally seeing Matt Eberflus’ point of view.
The Bears don’t need him to be Superman. They don’t need 3-4 touchdowns and 400 yards of offense every week. They have a strong defense that can get stops now. What they need is efficiency. Get a couple of scores, sustain some drives, and don’t give the opponent any extra opportunities. The blueprint to win is there. All Fields has to do is trust it. As time has gone on, he seems to have embraced this mentality. He almost met all the criteria last week against Arizona, if not for an unfortunate end zone interception. Thankfully, the Bears won anyway, but it was further proof that the formula works.
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People have valid reasons to criticize Matt Eberflus. His game management remains way too conservative in critical situations, and his decision-making is average at best. Yet nobody can deny he understands football. He’s played and coached it for decades. Winning doesn’t have to be complicated. If everybody does their jobs and limits their mistakes, success tends to follow. Fields is embracing that mentality. It might not be as flashy as people prefer, but it works.
