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Justin Fields’ work in his NFL debut was limited but notable. So how will the Chicago Bears use the rookie quarterback moving forward?

Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune
·4 min read

Late in the third quarter Sunday night at SoFi Stadium, Justin Fields faked a handoff to Damien Williams, charged to his right with the football and slipped through three Los Angeles Rams defenders into the end zone.

As Fields tossed the football behind him and pointed toward the sky, Cole Kmet came in fast to celebrate the rookie quarterback’s first career touchdown.

“He almost ran me over,” Fields said. “We all were excited for sure.”

So the celebrations need a bit more practice, but it was notable the first-round pick even had the chance at one in the 34-14 loss to the Rams.

Bears coach Matt Nagy was secretive in the weeks leading up to the game about how much and when he might use Fields in his offense while planning to start veteran Andy Dalton, so here’s what we found out Sunday.

Fields played only five snaps, though Nagy noted the game situation — with the Bears behind early and getting into the two-minute offense — limited some of those snaps. Fields’ NFL debut came on the fourth offensive play, a run-pass option that he turned into a 9-yard pass down the right sideline to Marquise Goodwin to get to the Rams 3-yard line.

That and the touchdown run were the two most successful plays. The others, including a shovel pass to Allen Robinson for a gain of 1 yard in the third quarter, were less notable.

Three of the plays were in the red zone. The rest of the time Fields said he acted as if he were in the game, repeating the play call when it came through as if calling it in the huddle and keeping his legs warm in case Nagy called upon him.

Fields said the limited opportunities weren’t difficult to handle because they had been going over the scenarios in practice.

“You get a feel about the atmosphere, see how fast those guys are coming,” Fields said. “It’s different when you’re actually on the field rather than being on the sideline, so you just get that experience on there. Just being out there, just getting used to the speed and stuff.”

His limited time likely wasn’t enough to satisfy Bears fans’ appetite, and the debate clearly will rage on about whether Fields should be starting over Dalton, who completed 27 of 38 passes for 206 yards with an interception and three sacks.

Dalton’s mixed results in his Bears debut won’t change that.

After a false-start penalty on Kmet pushed the Bears to third-and-6 at the 8 following Fields’ first play, Kenny Young tipped Dalton’s pass, and David Long Jr. dived to intercept it in the end zone. But Dalton also led two touchdown drives, including the 16-play, 81-yard drive that ended with Fields’ touchdown.

The handful of Fields appearances were part of the development plan that Nagy hopes can help Fields learn while also helping the Bears offense with an extra weapon.

“We had a plan and we stuck to it,” Nagy said. “We knew where and when we were going to use him. We stuck to that. We’ll see where that goes and how we do it.”

Nagy said the Bears will keep an eye on how the situation works for both quarterbacks, including whether it will disrupt Dalton’s rhythm. Dalton said it didn’t affect him Sunday.

“First time doing it, but we’ve got some good stuff for him and obviously it helped us,” Dalton said. “He was able to score a touchdown. We’re trying to find ways to put the ball in the end zone, so it’s part of how we’re going to play.”

Until Fields takes over as the starter from Dalton somewhere down the road, he runs the scout team in practice. He said he uses that time to try to “torch our defense” and also test out throws he normally wouldn’t make in games.

And he’s going to enjoy his first NFL moments, no matter how many there are. He said he looked around multiple times in the first half and at halftime saying, “Yo, this is crazy.”

“When I was a kid, I was kind of a realist, so I never really thought I’d have the talent growing up and making it to the NFL,” Fields said. “So it’s just crazy seeing myself here.”