Getty Justin Fields has been playing with three cracked ribs.
Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields is doing everything he can to get back to full strength after suffering three cracked ribs against the Baltimore Ravens Week 11.
In a video shared on Twitter by Dr. Michael Tal Risher, a sports performance doctor located in Chicago, Fields had been focusing on doing “fascial tension and anterior oblique sling work,” which should help him go through his throwing motions with more ease and ideally, less pain.
Fascial tension and anterior oblique sling work with @justnfields
Rotation is important for all throwing athletes, especially those recovering from any type of rib injury. Reestablishing the connection is 🔑
Whatever he’s doing seems to be working, because the rookie QB says he’s feeling better every day.
“I’m slowly getting better each and every day. Of course, I was pretty sore after the game from not playing a couple weeks but I’m getting better,” Fields said on December 16, referring to Chicago’s Week 14 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
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Fields is No Stranger to Rib Injuries
Fields also suffered a rib injury in college at Ohio State during the College Football Playoff semifinal game against Clemson in January of 2021. He wound up playing through it, throwing for 385 yards and six touchdowns. The Bears rookie says that injury was far worse than this one.
“I had to sit out after the season probably four or five weeks. I just didn’t do anything to let it fully heal. But again, that was way worse,” Fields said.
After missing two games, the young signal-caller also noted he has been trying to play smart since his Week 14 return.
“I just was trying to be smart and not take any hits, so whenever I felt the need to slide and get down, I’m gonna do that.”
It looks like he’s doing all the right things to recover this time.
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Fields Also Establishing Himself as Strong Leader
“Literally every week I feel more and more comfortable just with the whole dynamic,” Fields added, in reference to his growing understanding of what it means to play in the NFL. “Knowing where all my answers are and stuff like that, I think each week I’m getting more comfortable back there and kinda taking it slowly.”
Fields is also establishing himself as a quality leader at 22 years of age. When his fellow rookie Teven Jenkins entered the team’s Week 14 game against Green Bay in the first quarter after veteran tackle Jason Peters went down, Jenkins battled, but struggled, allowing five QB hurries, two sacks and seven pressures. He also had a few costly penalties. Fields, who was sacked nine times in his debut against the Cleveland Browns earlier this season, revealed what he told Jenkins afterward.
“I think Tev wanted to play better than he did, but of course that being his first game, he’s not going to be perfect. So I just told him: ‘You know, everything is going to be fine. I mean, really, you just kind of have to look in retrospect.’ I mean, me, my first start I had 1 net passing yard. So it’s just like it’s going to get better and I just told him to keep his head down and I just reached out to him after the game because I know he was feeling a little bit down. I just reached out to him to see where his head was mentally and just told him to keep working and everything was going to get better.”
That’s pretty sage advice coming from such a young player.
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