The Soldier Field crowd rose to its feet when rookie quarterback Justin Fields finally, mercifully, took the field to start the second half Saturday. He might have been the only person in the huddle the fans recognized.
The Soldier Field crowd rose to its feet when Justin Fields finally, mercifully, took the field to start the second half Saturday. He might have been the only person in the huddle the fans recognized.
Rookie Larry Borom was about to play his first snap at left tackle in an NFL game setting. To his right were linemen Adam Redmond, Arlington Hambright, Lachavious Simmons and Dieter Eiselen. The five men standing between face of the franchise and injury had a combined one NFL start to their name — Hambright started one game as a rookie last year.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, it looked like the Bears’ blocking problems got their rookie quarterback decapitated. The Bills’ Andre Smith blitzed around the right end and was ignored by the line and rookie running back Khalil Herbert, who released in the backfield rather than blocking.
Fields never saw him coming. Smith speared him in the helmet — and was flagged for it. Fields’ du-rag flew off — do you know how much force it takes for an elastic du-rag to come off his head? — and his helmet did, too. The helmet flew four yards in the air, landed and rolled another 10.
If it wasn’t apparent already in what would be a 41-15 blowout loss to Mitch Trubisky’s Bills at Soldier Field, it should have been the moment Fields strapped his helmet back on: What are we doing here? If the main goal of the Bears’ preseason is to evaluate Fields, what’s the point of doing it with second- and third-stringers? When Fields lofted a beautiful pass down the right sideline that Riley Ridley should have caught — but didn’t — how does that help the quarterback grow?
After the first preseason game, Bears coach Matt Nagy said that Fields would spent more time playing alongside the team’s first-string skill position players in practice. He then took exactly one practice snap with them all week.
It’s clear that Nagy won’t name Fields the starter between now and Week 1. The Bears have one more week, then, to see what he has in Fields. It’s imperative that the Bears team him in practice — and in the exhibition finale Saturday against the Titans — with players who will make it past cut day. Otherwise, it’s impossible get an accurate look at what Fields can do in exhibitions — presuming the Bears want to see it.
Fields was pedestrian, going 9-for-19 for 80 yards but led the Bears with four carries for 46 yards. Dalton was only slightly more efficient, going 11-for-17 for 146 yards, one touchdown and the interception.
Nagy stuck with starter Andy Dalton for the entire first half — and the fans didn’t like it.
After he struggled throughout the first quarter, Dalton was booed for the first time when he took a sack about four minutes into the second. Before he ran the next play, different sections of fans on the far side of the stadium started chants of “We want Fields!” and “We want Justin!”
Dalton was booed when he took the field for the next possession. Two plays later, he faked a handoff up the middle and found Rodney Adams down the right sideline for a 73-yard touchdown.
Dalton wanted the offense to look efficient and well-run. Instead, it was discombobulated. On third-and-7 late in the second quarter, tight end Jesse James was flagged for a false start. On third-and-12, guard Alex Bars was. After a nine-yard Dalton completion, the Bears went for it on fourth-and-8. Dalton, under pressure, threw the ball into the back of tackle Simmons’ helmet.
He got the ball back with 40 seconds left in the first half. The Bears hoped that, as was the case with Fields in the first game, a two-minute drill could get him in rhythm. Dalton, however, threw a completion to Chris Lacy, then an incompletion, then took a sack. On third-and-12, Adams slipped while making his break from the left flank into the middle of the field. Under pressure, Dalton threw the ball to the spot where Adams should have been. It was intercepted.
Would a starter have slipped? Allen Robinson didn’t start Saturday, and Darnell Mooney never touched the ball. Running back David Montgomery didn’t play, and neither did injured tight end Cole Kmet. That left Dalton to play with backups, and Fields with the people even below them on the depth chart.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3mnpglQ
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