Bears QB Justin Fields will miss finale with hip strain

If it’s possible for a team that has lost a franchise-record nine consecutive games to wave the white flag, the Bears did just that Wednesday when they ruled out quarterback Justin Fields for the season finale Sunday against the Vikings.

Officially, coach Matt Eberflus said Fields has a strained hip.

Unofficially, the 3-13 Bears shouldn’t be motivated to win Sunday. They’ll draft second if they lose to the Vikings and could pick No. 1 overall if they lose and the 4-11-1 Colts lose to the 2-13-1 Texans. The Bears haven’t selected a player with the first overall pick since Bob Fenimore in 1947.

The Bears have won one game since beating the Texans in Week 3. Nonetheless, Fields would’ve given them a better chance of winning than replacement Nathan Peterman, who hasn’t started a game since 2018. He is winless in four career starts, which the Bills lost by a combined 102 points.

Eberflus was asked if the Bears would have sat Fields with the same injury if they were facing a playoff game.

“It would be the same,” he said.

No one could prove him wrong. But it’s more than fair to be skeptical.

In the minutes after the 31-point loss to the Lions on Sunday, Eberflus and Fields said that if healthy, Fields would play the finale.

Fields — who was not made available for interviews Wednesday — was sacked a season-high seven times by Detroit. He used a therapy gun on his hip while on the sideline but didn’t miss a snap. After the game, he spoke at length about how it was important for him to finish the game even though it was a blowout.

“Anytime I get to play, I want to be out there, no matter who it’s with,” Fields said then.

Eberflus said Sunday that game reps were critical to his development. He said that changed Monday when Fields came to Halas Hall complaining of a sore hip. An MRI exam diagnosed the strain, he said, and the team doctor declared that Fields was “not going to be able to be full speed by Sunday.”

Eberflus said Fields told him he was “real sore” Wednesday but said the injury would not hamper him long into the offseason.

“It’s not long term,” Eberflus said.

Eberflus said Monday that he planned to talk to general manager Ryan Poles about whether to play Fields and other Bears against the Vikings. The doctor’s ruling, Eberflus claimed, made the coaching staff’s opinion on whether to play him moot.

“It’s the medical staff, so he didn’t clear that hurdle,” he said.

“So if he’d have cleared that hurdle, then we’d have to go to the next one, which is the coaches — ‘Is he functional to protect himself?’ Then it’s the player — ‘Does he feel good about doing that?’

“He didn’t clear the first one. So that’s just where it is.”

Fields finishes his season 25th in passing yards, tied for 16th in touchdown passes and 26th in passer rating, rankings that could go even further down after other quarterbacks play this weekend.

He also had one of the great rushing seasons by a quarterback.

Fields will finish 64 yards shy of breaking Lamar Jackson’s record of 1,206 rushing yards set in 2019. Jackson set the mark in 15 games, the same number that Fields played this season.

Peterman knows what the outside world might think about the move, but he said he’s focused on “going out there, playing great and winning a football game.”

That last part, though, might not be in the franchise’s best interests.