Kee On Sports Magazine Volume 1: “The Genesis”

Is Justin Fields the real deal? YES!

By Jason Hannum

Former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields has had some growing pains during his rookie season with the Chicago Bears. The Bears entered Monday Night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 3-5 record and Fields had not yet had a game in which he threw for more than 209 yards passing in an NFL game. He is too talented not to break out, and that time finally came Monday night at Pittsburgh.

It appeared it would be more of the same in the first half as Fields has just 63 yards passing as the Bears trailed Pittsburgh 14-3 at halftime & 20-6 after 3 quarters. Fields was also sacked 3 times in the game by Steelers outside linebacker TJ Watt.

But Fields & the Bears fought back. Fields would end the night going 17-29 for 291 yards with a TD pass & an interception; 228 yards came in just the second half alone. In the third quarter Fields found Marquise Goodwin for a 50 yard gain which led to a field goal. Early in the fourth, Fields would find veteran tight end Jimmy Graham for 28 yards.   That drive was capped off by a Darnell Mooney 15 yard TD run that brought the Bears to within 20-13.

Late in the game with Chicago down 26-20 Fields appeared to have brought the Bears all the way back.

He connected with Allen Robinson for a 39 yard gain. Then with just under 2 minutes remaining he found Mooney in the near side of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown pass which have the Bears a 27-26 lead with 1:46 remaining.

Steelers veteran QB Ben Roethlisberger would lead the Steelers on a 7 play 52-yard drive in 1:20 that resulted in a Chris Boswell 40 yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining that gave Pittsburgh a 29-27 lead. Fields would lead Chicago to midfield at the very end & the Bears’ Cairo Santos attempted a 65-yard field goal on the final play of the game but the ball landed well short of the goal post.

The Chicago Bears may be 3-6 after Monday Night’s defeat, but the Chicago Bears organization most certainly has optimism concerning their rookie quarter from The Ohio State University. Hopefully for the Bears it will translate to wins in the near future as Fields seems to be improving more and more each week.