Week 11 Bears Preview: Justin Fields Returns Home In Search of Victory
Fields and the Bears look to snap losing streak against overachieving Falcons in what could be a shootout
Depending on what one is searching for when they return, “home” as a literal place or a mental construct can provide many things.
Many say “home is where the heart is,” but homecomings are often more complicated than that, especially when what took you away from home is finally starting to work the way you like.
For one, Justin Fields, a return this weekend to his home soil of Georgia has him on the brink of superstardom as he emerges week after week into one of the NFL’s most explosive play makers.
Yet, he’s still part of a team, the Chicago Bears, that is on a four-game losing streak and should be as hungry victory as Fields will likely be for validation in front of thousands of Georgians who both saw him excel as a prep star and flame out as a prospective starter at the University of Georgia.
Fields’ loyalty to his home state extends to his coming of age spent as a Falcons fan.
“Yeah, I actually was (a Falcons fan),” said Fields during press availability Wednesday. “Growing up my dad had season tickets so I would always go to the games with him.”
Young Fields, a native of Atlanta suburb Kennesaw, likely spent many of those Sundays imagining how he’d bring glory to the often stagnant franchise, taking control of the field much like Julio Jones, who Fields admitted to being one of his favorite players growing up.
It is wild how close Fields actually was to becoming a Falcon in 2021, he was there for Atlanta’s taking at the No. 4 pick overall — ironically, in search of offensive firepower they chose tight end Kyle Pitts, who made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season, but has been much less of a standout in his sophomore campaign.
So much like the Georgia Dome had to fall for Mercedes Benz Stadium to rise, Fields looks to put the hammer on the team of his youth in order to keep building the future he sees for himself as Chicago’s No. 1 and one of the NFL’s best.
Road Runner
Having already come a long way since attending those Falcons games with his father, Fields already made the Dawgs in Athens eat it for not recognizing his skills fully.
As if Fields’ emergence at Ohio State wasn’t enough, his becoming a certified dual threat at the pro level has shown just how much his potential shouldn’t have been ignored.
In the last two weeks Fields has won a pair of awards including the NFC’s offensive player of the week following Week 9 and winning the FedEx Ground Player of the Week as given out for the entire NFL.
Fields has rushed 325 yards across his last two contests and not satisfied with being one-dimensional, QB1 has a passer rating above 99 over his last three games.
Fly Like A Falcon
Before the season started FiveThirtyEight projected the Falcons to win only six games. Entering Week 11, Atlanta is only two wins away from that mark with seven games to go.
After opening the season 0-2, the Dirty Birds have gone 4-4, including wins against playoff contenders in San Francisco and Seattle.
Like the Bears, the Falcons have been playing mostly close games of late. But unlike the Bears, the Falcons have come out on top at least some of the time.
Rush Attack Showdown
This week’s match-up pins the top two rushing offenses in the NFL against each other.
The Bears have a league-leading 2,017 rushing yards on the season and the Falcons are a distant second with 1,604.
Unfortunately, the Bears will be without one of their top two ball carriers out the running back position as Khalil Herbert was placed on the injured reserve on Tuesday.
Herbert sports one of the league’s top per carry averages, reeling off 6.0 yards on average when he totes the ball. Not surprisingly, Fields is also one of the league leaders in that category and he has a chance to hold steady among the NFL’s best this week as Atlanta has given up the most yards per carry to quarterbacks.
David Montgomery, who was sharing carries with Herbert, will go back to being responsible for the vast amount of carries but the possibility of rookie Trestan Ebner getting more carries this week is there as well as possible gadget runs involving the likes of Velus Jones Jr., who looks to return to the lineup this week.
On the other side of the coin, the Falcons’ quarterback Marcus Mariota is coming off a 72-yard rushing performance in a Thursday night loss to Carolina on Nov. 10. The eight-year veteran is 10 yards away from eclipsing his career high in rushing yards.
Atlanta’s backfield also features a familiar face to Bears fans in Cordarelle Patterson, who made the Pro Bowl twice as a special teams specialist while in a Bears uniform. The 31-year-old was having a great start to the 2022 season up until a knee injury caused him to miss a month, but he is now healthy and ready to go.
It looks like Patterson will return to share time with talented rookie Tyler Allgeier, who has run for over 80 yards in two of his first nine pro games.
Stopping Moving Forces
This ballgame might come down to who can stop the run.
Someone who will look to be a key cog in the Bears’ defense once again will be Jack Sanborn, who had a big game in the loss to Detroit.
The rookie and Illinois native racked up 12 total tackles, including a pair of sacks, against the Lions
“Jack’s on his way, man. That last game, he was everywhere,” general manager Ryan Poles said this week on “The Season” podcast, hosted by Peter Schrager.
The Bears and Falcons kick off in Atlanta Sunday at Noon.
Bear Tracks
Cole Kmet, who has 5 touchdowns in his last three games, is not only healthy this week (thigh) but he is also the Bears’ Week 11 honorary captain.
Injury report includes N’Keal Harry who is OUT (illness) and Kindle Vildor, a full participant in Friday’s practice, who is listed as questionable (ankle).
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Saul Rodriguez is WARR Media’s associate producer and lead Bears reporter