Lions vs. Bears Week 10 preview: How Chicago unlocked Justin Fields

Victory week sure does feel better, doesn’t it? After the Detroit Lions’ win over the Green Bay Packers, I took Twitter to talk about how much goodwill beating the Packers gives Dan Campbell and company after a rough 1-6 start. They can damn near completely restore Lions fans faith in them if they follow that up with a win over the Chicago Bears.

Much like the Lions, the Bears are a bad team too. However, Justin Fields presents a matchup issue since he’s so good at using his feet, and the Lions have been bad against mobile quarterbacks. The good news is that Fields has struggled this season to throw the ball. So if the Lions can keep him from running, they have a much better chance at winning Sunday.

There’s a lot we don’t know about the Bears since we haven’t really seen them yet. To get more info we reached out to Patti Curl from Windy City Gridiron to get the scoop. Here’s what she had to say:

1. Just Fields had a very good game this past Sunday. Outside of that, he’s struggled during his time in Chicago. Who is the real Justin Fields?

“What I’ve gathered from twitter is that Fields has made the rare and impressive transition from “aint it” to “him.” This transition actually started before last Sunday’s “Justin Fields Legs for Days” game, but I don’t blame you for thinking that was his first good game because its when the national media decided to flip the narrative. Fields has always been talented, but has struggled with executing a lot of the quick passing game strategies used in the NFL to accommodate for a subpar pass blocking offensive line. Specifically, he’s not great at timing routes, and he has accuracy issues when he throws the ball without the laces lined up. I’m sure you’ve been told he has a slow release and that’s also a small part of it.

“Fields has had three great games in a row, starting with the “mini-bye” between the Bears playing Washington on TNF and the Patriots 10 days later on MNF. The Bears made some significant offensive changes at that time, and the most significant was incorporating designed quarterback runs into the offense, using them to replace a lot of the short yardage passing play calls that weren’t going well. This went better than anyone could have hoped because they’ve not only been successful, but Fields is actually taking less hits because he’s taking less sacks and usually protecting himself on the runs. The passing game has also gotten better because a higher percentage of play calls are to Fields’ strengths and the Bears are getting more attempts just because they’re converting more 1st downs.

“My hope is the Lions defense gives Fields a chance to pile a 300 yard passing day on top of his give 150+ yards running to help quiet all of the box score scouts who still try to hate on him.”

2. The Bears are at 3-6, what’s giving this team a hard time?

“The Bears have the same record as the Packers but are spending $100 million less on their roster so I don’t actually see them as “having a hard time,” at least relative to the expectation based on their investment in this season. Their weakness is definitely the front 7 on defense, and it was even before trading away Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith. They’ve also had offensive trouble through the first 5 games, but have since figured a way to succeed with a young cheap offensive line and limited receiver talent.”

3. What the real strength of the Bears?

“Good question. Most people believe the real strength of Bears comes from the sizeable hump of muscle in their back, but only grizzly bears have that hump, and even for grizzlies, the most important source of strength is in the haunches. In this Bears team in particular, the strength is Justin Fields haunches.”

4. Right now the line for this game is Bears -3 on DraftKings Sportsbook. Are you taking that bet?

“You mean I can win money if the Bears only get 3 more points than the literal Detroit Lions? Yes, I’m taking that bet. Random question: I know mortgage rates are high, but if I take out a second mortgage today and then pay it off on Monday, is there a penalty for that or do I just pay a few days of interest?”

5. Who’s winning this thing?

“The Bears will score more points, but both offenses will move the ball and everyone will have a fun time and feel like winners at the end of the day. Dan Campbell and Matt Eberflus will share Aaron Rodgers memes on the sideline and Poles and Holmes will scheme about how they can help each other land Bryce Young and Jalen Carter next April.”