The Bears don’t plan to put quarterback Justin Fields on injured reserve and don’t anticipate him needing surgery to fix his dislocated thumb, coach Matt Eberflus said Friday.
“We are not on that path right now,” Eberflus said.
That opens the door for Fields to return to game action in weeks, not months. He won’t play Sunday against the Raiders — instead, rookie Tyson Bagent, an undrafted free agent, will make his first career start.
Although Fields’ grip strength in his right hand is improving and he’s feeling more comfortable, he’s still unable to throw a football in part because of the swelling in his thumb and won’t do any sort of pregame workout with the Bears’ other rehabbing players Sunday at Soldier Field.
He’ll be evaluated again Monday, with the hope the swelling has subsided by then.
And he’ll be the starter whenever he returns, Eberflus said.
“Hopefully he’ll start gripping a football and then progressing from there, start throwing a little bit,” Eberflus said. “And we’ll see where it goes.”
Once Fields can throw, the Bears will be watching and evaluating closely.
“You just look at it and say, hey, what’s the speed? What’s the spin? The accuracy? All the things that entails there,” Eberflus said. “You just look at it with your eye and really talk to him about it. How does he feel about it? Where does he feel he is with that? He’s the guy that’s doing it. He’s the one that can feel it — that can feel the strength there, and the spin and the accuracy.”
If Fields stops progressing in the coming weeks, the Bears could always reverse course. Eberflus, however, believes he’s trending in the right direction. A trip to injured reserve would have cost him at least four games, according to NFL rules.
“The mobility’s getting better,” Eberflus said. “The swelling went down. The grip strength is better. . . . The grip strength is really where it is, the functionality of it. . . . That’s where it’s looking good.”
After looking like one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in Weeks 4 and 5, with passer ratings of 132.7 and 125.3, respectively, Fields reverted to early-season form in the first half of last week’s loss to the Vikings, throwing 6-for-10 for 58 yards, an interception and a 36.7 passer rating and getting sacked four times. He was injured on a sack on the Bears’ first possession of the third quarter, falling forward after flipping the ball away. X-rays were negative, but an MRI exam confirmed the dislocation, which comes with tearing of the muscles at the base of the thumb.
Fields not only hasn’t practiced but hasn’t been on the sideline during the portions of practice open to reporters. He was spotted earlier this week with a small purple brace on his thumb.
“I’ve been looking at him and seeing him every day,” said wide receiver Darnell Mooney, one of Fields’ best friends. “Everything looks like it’s speeding up, for sure. Hopefully we can get him back soon and he can get to rolling again.”
The Bears would be better for it, he added.
“He’s a dynamic player,” Mooney said. “You always want to see Justin Fields out there on the field. Every time he’s not out there . . . I mean, he’s our team. You think about the Bears, you think about Justin. And when he’s not out there on the field, you know definitely someone’s missing. And it’s him.”
The Raiders ruled out their own starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, earlier this week after he was sent to the hospital for tests on his back. Before practice Friday, coach Josh McDaniels said he wanted to wait until the end of the day to decide between starting 38-year-old veteran Brian Hoyer, a former Bear, and rookie Aidan O’Connell, who attended Stevenson High School. Hoyer finished Sunday’s game, a win over the Patriots, while O’Connell, a Purdue alum, started against the Chargers earlier this month.
Reports late Friday indicated McDaniels chose Hoyer, who hasn’t won a game as a starter since he led the Bears to a 17-14 victory against the Lions on Oct. 2, 2016.
Hoyer is athletic enough to escape the pocket when needed, but he’s primarily a rhythm passer, Eberflus said.
“The obvious is the experience,” Eberflus said. “Hoyer’s had a lot of ball. He’s seen a lot of coverages. He’s seen everything. And so he’s been in a lot of meetings with Josh, so they have a familiarity there. He has a good feeling for that offense. I think it was a comfort level there.”
