Forget the unlikely playoff scenarios that never materialized for a moment, and the concern over Justin Fields’ future.The Bears are rolling when teams need to be at their best and it bodes well for next week, if not next season.
Fields threw for 268 yards and a touchdown, ran for another TD and everything on offense and defense clicked for a 37-17 Bears victory Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons.
Amid the backdrop of a report saying Matt Eberflus is “expected” to return next season, and the Bears clinching the first pick in the draft, Fields efficiently and sometimes spectacularly moved the team to a 24-7 third-quarter lead.
Then they didn’t let up.
“It’s not great, it’s not where it needs to be, but it’s good football,” Eberflus said. “It’s solid. It’s winning football. We just got to keep doing that.”
The defense picked off four passes, including two by Tyrique Stevenson, to improve their season’s total to 22 as they moved to 7-9 on the season heading to next week’s finale with the Packers. They celebrated a feel-good moment and New Year’s Eve victory by smoking some cigars in the locker room afterward.
“Most definitely, with the wins going along, and like I said just the team camaraderie that we have, everybody just loving on each other and having that relationship with guys in the locker room, just feels like high school or college again when you get those old memories,” Fields said. “That’s what it feels like.
“So it’s a great feeling, and ready to take on Green Bay. Let’s do it. Yes sir.”
Fields went 20-of-32 and started it off with a 7-yard TD dart to DJ Moore at the back left corner of the end zone. Moore had initiated the 60-yard scoring drive with a 32-yard catch on the sidelines, then did the same to start a 68-yard drive on the next Bears drive that ended with a 9-yard Fields TD run for a 14-0 lead.
“Those were amazing throws,” Moore said. “There was one ball we was talking about, there was kind of like snow kind of got in my way so I had to track it and kind of like blind-catch it and I was just like, ‘Oh thank goodness.’ ”
Although Atlanta closed within 14-7, a 75-yard march to Roschon Johnson’s 2-yard TD pushed the lead out to 21-7 at halftime and the Bears never led by less than 14 again.
Moore finished with nine receptions for 159 yards and Khalil Herbert added a late 1-yard TD as part of a season’s best 124-yard rushing effort on 18 carries.
“Really loved the way we were feeding DJ in the first half,” Eberflus said. “That was really good. And had some explosive, not only in the first half, but the entire day.
“We were aggressive. Had an aggressive mindset during this course of this game. We knew we were playing a good football team. We certainly needed to be in that mode, so to speak.”
They piled up 432 yards and won their fifth straight at home and fifth in the last seven overall. They can finish with their first three-game winning streak since 2020 by beating Green Bay.
T.J. Edwards’ interception of a Taylor Heinicke’s throw before halftime initiated the second half defensive crackdown. Stevenson made his two interceptions and Kyler Gordon added one. They converted one into one of Cairo Santos’ three field goals and another into Herbert’s 1-yard TD. They held Heinicke to 10 of 29 for 163 yards and then Stevenson’s last pick came off backup Desmond Ridder.
“The guys around me have been picking me up since I got here,” Stevenson said. “I pretty much got thrown in the fire and all them guys have been doing is using their fire extinguishers to try to put it out and just give me the confidence that I need.”
The pass rush produced plenty of heat to go with the takeaways, including 1 1/2 sacks by rookie Gervon Dexter and half a sack by DeMarcus Walker.
“I credit the guys that have been here for the two years,” Eberflus said. “Some guys came in for this one year, but guys that have been around and the rookies that we signed that first year, that believed, hey, we’re going get this thing done and turn it into the right way.
“Just, again, I know it’s a couple wins, but I’m just saying to get that vibe in there of, hey, we can do this, that was certainly exciting for the players in there.”
Leave a Reply