Justin Fields bounced back, but now he needs a complete game

As the Bears spend the season searching for signs that Fields can be their quarterback for the next decade, they want to see steady play to go with his flashes of athletic brilliance. Fields had good drives, quarters and halves last season. His ability to turn the page at halftime Sunday was telling.

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Bears quarterback Justin Fields runs for a 12-yard gain during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Bears quarterback Justin Fields runs for a 12-yard gain during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy walked into the locker room at halftime Sunday with a smile on his face. A smile? With his team shut out and quarterback Justin Fields posting a 2.8 passer rating? With his offense having completed a grand total of zero throws beyond the line of scrimmage? And having averaged, until the scrambled final drive, 1.8 yards per play?  

A smile?

“It’s confidence,” Fields said Wednesday. “I think just that little body language brought everybody on their feet and kind of encouraged everybody to come out differently in the second half.”

Fields passed it on to his teammates with his play. He posted a 111.8 passer rating in the second half, leading the Bears to three touchdowns — two in the air — in a 19-10 victory against the 49ers inside a soggy Soldier Field.

Getsy, though, would probably rather not have to plaster a smile on his face Sunday night in Green Bay. The only thing better than Fields bouncing back at halftime is him not having to.

As the Bears spend the season searching for signs that Fields can be their quarterback for the next decade, they want to see steady play to go with his flashes of athletic brilliance. Fields had good drives, quarters and halves last season. His ability to turn the page at halftime against San Francisco was telling.

Still, he needs complete games. Sunday wasn’t one.

“We know it’s always not gonna go our way,” Fields said. “Or we might run into things, run into equations on the field that we can’t control. So just control the controllable and execute what we can. . . . Just making sure we’re doing the right thing.”

Fields needs to be more consistent this season. As a rookie, his passer rating was worst in the first (55.9) and fourth quarters (69.5). He posted ratings of 86.7 in the second and 76.4 in the third. 

The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, the Bears’ upcoming opponent and the player to whom all quarterbacks must measure themselves, had a 110 passer rating in the third quarter last year and a 110.2 rating in the fourth. Rodgers was almost the same quarterback in the first half (113.2) as the second (110.1) last season.

The quarterbacks suffered when rain turned the new Soldier Field sod into a bog. Per NFL Stats and Information, Fields and the 49ers’ Trey Lance completed 17% and 21% fewer passes than expected, the lowest rates in the NFL. 

“In the NFL, you’re going to have halves when it feels like nothing’s working and halves where you’re setting the world on fire,” backup quarterback Trevor Siemian said. “It’s important to fall back on the things you believe in.”

The Bears simplified their playbook at halftime. They began to win the battle of field position after starting inside their 13 three times on six first-half drives.

“The playbook shrinks a lot with a lot of the things that were going on,” wide receiver Darnell Mooney said. “We weren’t really worried. After halftime, all those tables switched.”

That proved something to coach Matt Eberflus.

“[Fields] was able to move all those things aside — figuring out how he was going to grip the ball better, how he was going to operate and then figure out the game as the game went on and move the ball down the field,” Eberflus said. “That’s what, to me, is outstanding. What an outstanding thing for a young quarterback to have that mental toughness, all of those things going on and to be able to laser-like focus in and get the job done.”

First-half touchdowns, though, would be better.

“I think it was good for us to see, especially being a younger team, that we have that resolve,” Siemian said. “The guys believe it, and they know it. But to go out there and prove it one time is important.”

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