Justin Fields and Offense Slip 'n Slide to Win

A fun moment in the end zone capped off a strong second half by the Bears offense and quarterback Justin Fields.

Justin Fields and the entire Bears offense counted down the final seconds, pulled away from the line of scrimmage and as the gun sounded went face-first into the end zone in a slip n' slide moment.

It was time to let six months of hearing how bad they were wash away in the Soldier Field slop.

A 19-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers put Justin Fields arm on display, but also his creativeness and fortitude.

The game-changing play on a 51-yard cross-field TD pass after a scramble to Dante Pettis came entirely unscripted -- except that they script these things themselves every day at practice with scramble drills.

"I think that was the play that changed the momentum of the whole game," Fields said. "Once that play happened, that started everything else."

This is awesome. 🐻⬇️🌧️🏈 pic.twitter.com/EqgQo1N5Bc

— Matt Clapp (@DaBearNecess) September 11, 2022

It was a broken play but it broke the 49ers defense, which had been dominant to that point in the third quarter.

"So just scramble drill rules, just knowing what your receivers are going to do," Fields said. "Just kind of them feeling out the spacing. And really just trying to extend plays as long as I can to where I can either throw it to them there or maybe run for a few yards or even throw it away.

"So yeah. I think they did a great job with that today though."

Fields saw Pettis out of the corner of his eye earlier on the play.

"They're just watching me, watching my eyes, kind of watching where I go," Fields said. "I knew he was over there and once I looked right and saw him there wide open, I just wanted to–I lofted it up just to make sure he caught the ball.

"He did a great job with the yards after the catch and EQ threw a great block so he could get in the end zone."

Fields had gone 3 of 9 for 19 yards with an interception in the first half as he spent much of the time fleeing the 49ers pass rush. But he came back 5 of 8 for 102 yards and two TDs in the second half.

He thought the weather had some impact on the offense in the first half.

"I think the rain affected us a little bit but once it calmed down a little bit, it wasn't affecting us as much," Fields said. "Definitely had an affect; I think the guys handled it well. Sam (Mustipher) being at center, all the snaps were fine. He did a great job doing that."

Part of the reason for more success in the second half was they found ways to get Fields on the move after the 49ers successfully took away bootleg motion in the first half.

"Yeah we stopped doing it because I think they game planned pretty well for nakeds (bootlegs), for our keepers and stuff like that," Fields said. "We definitely wanted to try that in the third quarter a little bit but they still were sticking to the game plan where every time I would go out, they would have that D-end right outside waiting for me so I just tried to make a positive play."

When they found their rhythm it led to TD drives after the long pass to Pettis.

 "Really just first and second down," Fields said. "Putting ourselves in good position. Getting the run game going a little bit. I thought the line did a great job blocking in the second half for the run game a little bit more.

"So got that going a little bit more on first and second down. And then of course if you have positive plays on first and second downs it will set you up for better success on third down."

In the end, it all set them up for a slip 'n slide moment in the end zone, all 11 players on offense.

"That was awesome. That was awesome," Fields said. "We talked about it right before we took the last knee. All the guys were excited to run to the end zone and do that. That was a snapshot moment, for sure."

He wasn't sure about the originator of the idea.

"I think it was one of the O-linemen," Fields said. "I heard it and I was like, 'Oh yeah, everybody’s gotta do it.' So I took the last snap and we all just ran into the end zone and did that. That was cool." 

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