Everything about this game looked like it was going to be a disaster. Prime time on the road in a tough stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers. A team that boasts one of the best defenses in the NFL. For the first half of the game? It looked like Justin Fields was in store for more of the treatment he got against Cleveland and Tampa Bay. Tough hits and not a lot of help from his teammates.
Then things started happening. The rookie began to make more legitimate throws. NFL throws. After leading an 89-yard field goal drive to start the half, Fields would engineer easily the best sequence of his young career. It involved a big touchdown drive to cut the Steelers lead to 20-13. Then after some weird breaks both ways made it 26-20 with 2:47 to go, the Bears rookie had his coming-out party. A 75-yard drive in which he hit on three passes for 64 yards including two absolute dimes. One to Allen Robinson for 39 and the other Darnell Mooney for a 16-yard touchdown to take a 27-26 lead.
To do that in prime time, on the road, against a good defense?
That is franchise quarterback stuff. The fact Justin Fields did it in only his seventh start makes it all the more impressive. He finished with 291 yards passing, a touchdown, an interception, and 45 yards rushing. A case can be made he was the best player on the field not named T.J. Watt in this game. It is such a shame that the Bears defense let it slip away with a brutal final drive that handed Pittsburgh the win.
It’s amazing to think their decline is becoming a bigger concern with this team rather than the quarterback situation. Welcome to Bizzaro World. Either way, this is the latest evidence that the organization absolutely did the right thing moving up for Fields last April. He is getting better each week and this was easily his best performance yet. Maybe the best performance a Bears quarterback has had in years given the situation and opponent.
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