Inevitability: Justin Fields Injured on Run in Loss

The Bears tried running Justin Fields a record number of times and he suffered a shoulder injury on the first play of yet another failed two-minute drill in a 27-24 loss at Atlanta.

USA Today

The Bears continued playing the quarterback run card Sunday and got what teams eventually get with this in the NFL.

Justin Fields suffered a left shoulder injury trying to run with the ball on first down during the start of a failed two-minute drill, and once again they came away losers in a last-gasp effort during a 27-24 loss to Atlanta.

"It was the first play of the last drive," Fields said "I don't know what happened, to be honest with you.

"I think I just landed on it or something like that. So yeah, it was just hurting after that."

Fields continued playing anyway, took a shot to the right shoulder while sliding, then tried throwing a simple dump-off at the sticks and over the middle to open running back David Montgomery for a first down but threw too high. The tipped third-down pass off Montgomery's hand was picked by Jaylinn Hawkins to seal Atlanta's win.

"We've just got operate," coach Matt Eberflus said. "We've just got to operate in those two-minute situations. We've got to execute in those situations and we've just got to keep our eyes forward and execute next time."

Whether it will be with Fields trying to break a four-game losing streak next, no one knows.

Fields was later taken by cart after the game to get further evaluation on the shoulder but there was no immediate evaluation news provided on the injury

"I mean, yeah, I was hurtin', but again it was the last drive of the game," Fields said. "I just tried to be there for my teammates and fight through the pain."

The Bears (3-8) have now had five straight unsuccessful two-minute drills with the winning or tying points on the line.

They ran Fields a career-high 18 times and he had 85 yards as Atlanta's approach was obvious on defense: They kept defensive ends in place on RPO plays and Fields couldn't really read anything. They simply were not going to be giving him the chance to break longer runs.

"He had a lot of good plays out there today and he's just keeping on growing and growing and growing and keep getting better and better and better," Eberflus said.

David Montgomery ran for 67 yards on 17 carries and the Bears were limited to 160 rushing yards, ending their streak at five for games with 225 rushing yards or more, on a day when they didn't have Khalil Herbert as the third big option in their ground game.

Fields finished 14 of 21 for 153 yards passing and threw a 16-yard first-quarter TD pass to Darnell Mooney.

The Bears lost a game they led 17-7, one in which two long kicks and a return proved decisive. Younghoe Koo kicked a 53-yard field goal with 1:47 remaining for the winning points.

In the second quarter, Eberflus gambled and had Cairo Santos try a 56-yard field goal on the last Bears possession of the first half and it struck the bottom of the crossbar, setting up Atlanta with excellent field position to drive for a tying, half-ending, 40-yard Koo field goal.

Now they're left with hoping their work with Fields can continue as they go to New York to face the Jets.

"Just keep getting better, take each day on its own and just keep working," Fields said. "Control what we can control, just eeep preparing for the future, keep getting better."

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