It took one play for Justin Fields to know that the game would be different than his previous two.
The Bears quarterback had thrown four touchdown passes in each of his last two games when he walked to the line of scrimmage for the Bears’ first play against the Vikings on Oct. 15 at Soldier Field.
The Vikings, as usual, were getting ready to blitz. Six rushers hovered over five offensive linemen.
The Bears were in an empty formation, with three players spread left. Two were right, with fullback Khari Blasingame on the outside.
Fields took the shotgun snap, looked at Blasingame and considered throwing a quick pass. He waited too long, though, and was sacked from behind by outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum. It was the first of three times Fields was sacked in the loss — the last, by Danielle Hunter on the first drive of the third quarter, dislocated Fields’ right thumb and knocked him out for four games.
Six weeks later, Fields diagnosed what went wrong. He wanted to throw to Blasingame, he said Wednesday at Halas Hall, but felt the cornerback covering him didn’t respect the threat of a deep pass and was lurking to try for an interception.
“I just felt him sitting on the route, so I didn’t want to potentially throw a pick on the first play of the game,” Fields said. “Learning from that, I just gotta sail it over his head and move onto second-and-10.”
Fields will have to take to heart the lessons he learned from his last meeting with the Vikings last meeting to show the Bears the next step in his development. If Fields’ return Sunday was a solid start to his seven-game prove-it gauntlet, Monday’s contest against the Vikings is an intriguing second step. Can a quarterback whose best traits are his running and deep passes be a successful pinball player, getting the ball out quickly against the blitz?
The Vikings are equipped to limit Fields from doing the very thing he does best.
Fields thrives with time to throw and room to run. He took, on average, 3.42 seconds to throw in his first game back Sunday in Detroit, the second-longest time of any quarterback in the NFL in Week 11. He’s averaged 3.08 seconds per dropback this season, the longest of any quarterback in the league.
He can’t do that Monday. Under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the Vikings have blitzed 47.4% of the time this season, the most in the NFL by a wide margin. The Giants rank second at 40.1%, and only four other teams in the league blitz more than one-third of the time. The Colts, who sit at the bottom of the NFL, blitz about three times less often than the Vikings.
“It’s well documented, right? It’s the pressure,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “Their pressure looks on first and second down that are unusual. Having seven guys, six guys up on the line of scrimmage. [safety] Harrison [Smith] is up on the line. And the variation of coverage.
“[Flores] does a good job of mixing up the coverages for the spots that are open on the field, and that creates a lot of pressure for every offense.”
It’s not as simple as Fields trying to, in his words, “out-athlete” a defensive end to get to the edge. If the Vikings are bringing a blitz, the right response is, almost always, to throw it and hope your receiver can turn a catch into a long play.
“That’s not really the answer to beat that … to try and scramble ... ” Fields said. “You just want to get the ball out quick and just let the playmakers make plays and work for you.”
The Bears won’t be surprised by the Vikings’ pressure. They’re the only team in the NFL that can say the same — in Flores’ first season as coordinator, the Bears are the first team he’s faced twice.
“Our guys have played them before,” Eberflus said, “so I think our guys will have a good understanding of where we’re going to attack and how we’re going to operate to win this game.”
The Bears made too many mental mistakes the last time they faced the Vikings, Fields said. The Vikings finished with five sacks, including a strip-sack recovery touchdown on backup quarterback Tyson Bagent’s third play.
“We’re better than what we put on tape that game,” Field said. “Putting our best foot forward, making sure we’re on our Ps and Qs each and every play. Locked in and getting the ball out fast when we need to when they do bring that pressure. It’s gonna be key. When they do bring pressure, the O-line picking it up. Everything starts up front.
“Once we get the protection and everything together, we’ll be good.”