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Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields will likely miss the team’s Week 7 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders due to a thumb injury — and it sounds as though it’s an injury head coach Matt Eberflus believes the QB could have avoided.
The Bears signal-caller dislocated his thumb in Chicago’s Week 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Fields was sacked by Vikings pass rusher Danielle Hunter, whose eight sacks are tied for most in the NFL. Fields was sacked more than any other quarterback last season (55 times), and his injury history is getting lengthier as a result.
On the play on which he was injured against Minnesota, the Bears QB tried to throw the ball away as he was driven to the ground by Hunter. When asked for his assessment of the play, Eberflus mentioned the role Fields has in order to avoid taking these types of hits.
“I’m not gonna get into all that detail of that,” the Bears coach said. “I just know him being able to get rid of the ball a little bit faster, we would certainly like that so he wouldn’t take the hit. That’s what I’ll say about the end of the play, for sure. … He just kinda fell on it funny and that’s what happened.”
Matt Eberflus Has a Point About Justin Fields Taking Sacks
You can watch the play Fields sustained his injury above. As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune noted, the third-year QB held on to the ball for 6.1 seconds on the play in which he was injured.
It’s become a pattern for the third-year QB, who seems to be holding the ball longer every season. Per PFF, Fields held on to the ball for 2.7 seconds as a rookie in 2021.
That number went up the following year, when Fields had an average time to throw of 2.91 seconds. Zach Wilson of the New York Jets was the only other starter who held the ball longer in 2022.
Fields is slightly better this year at 2.87 seconds, but after 31 NFL starts, his improvement should be more marked. He has already been sacked 24 times in six games so far this season, getting injured on one of those. Multiple analysts agree with Eberflus’s take on Fields, as well.
Laurence Holmes on Justin Fields Holding the Ball: That’ll Keep You From Being Great
Analyst Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score broke down the play on which Fields was injured succinctly. “The quarterback has to be better,” Holmes said on the October 15 episode of the House of L podcast. “He can’t hold the ball the way he was holding the ball in a clean pockets. Again.”
Like Eberflus, Holmes also pointed out that Fields didn’t need to take that sack from Hunter. “I hate to blame a player for getting hurt, but he got himself hurt,” Holmes said about Fields.
“Let me explain how. He got hurt because on a three-man rush — five versus three — he sat there with the ball in the pocket. Then, as the protection broke down, instead of just throwing it away, instead of running up the field, he ran away (from Hunter),” Holmes continued.
“Justin Fields was trying to extend that play long enough to throw the ball out of bounds. He should have either thrown it out of bounds or run upfield way earlier than that. Now he’s got a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand. It’s little s*** like that that will keep you from being great.”
As long as Fields is out, the Bears will be rolling with undrafted free agent Tyson Bagent. If Bagent were to get injured, veteran Nathan Peterman would likely be next in line.
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