Coming out of the Cleveland Browns game, nobody gave the Chicago Bears a prayer to reach the bye week with a winning record. Some even predicted they couldn't win another game. Then a stranger thing happened. Justin Fields delivered a strong performance at home against Detroit to engineer a critical 24-14 victory. It was a nice positive step for the rookie. Enough for the coaches to make him the permanent starter moving forward.
People were anxious to see how he'd respond in a huge road matchup against the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders. They got their answer in the form of a gutty performance that wasn't big in stats but positively huge in clutch plays. None were bigger than in the 4th quarter. Las Vegas had just scored to narrow the lead to 14-9.
The Bears offense had been stagnant the entire half.
Then they quickly found themselves in 3rd and 12 with 7:27 left. A failed conversion would put a tired defense right back on the field. That wasn't going to happen. Fields calmly stood in the pocket and fired an absolute laser to Darnell Mooney for 13 yards and a first down. It was a money play where there was little room. Chicago ended up driving to a 46-yard field goal which Cairo Santos nailed.It was a statement victory in every sense of the word. The defense played outstanding, holding a top-ranked Raiders offense to just nine points. The running game racked up 145 yards and Justin Fields delivered the big throws when he had to. He also had a nice 14-yard shot to Cole Kmet on that same drive. His TD toss to Jesper Horsted early in the game was strong too. The evidence continues to pile up that this kid is not intimidated by the NFL. All anybody has to do is watch the number of hits he took early in the game. One vicious shot after another. Las Vegas almost knocked him out at one point. He shook off everything and led his team to a big-time victory. That is what franchise quarterbacks do.
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