The Chicago Bears may have to find a way to survive their Week 12 matchup with the New York Jets without the help of their franchise quarterback. According to the Athletic's Jon Greenberg, the Bears are unlikely to let Fields play through his shoulder injury on Sunday.
Fields suffered a shoulder injury in the Bears' 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and has been limited in practices this week. He has repeatedly stated his commitment to playing Sunday, but given the Bears are 3-8 with little realistic chance at the playoffs, it may be wise to be prudent with their young passer.
Fields has emerged as one of the NFL's most exciting young quarterbacks this season by embracing a more run-heavy approach in his second year. He has increased his rush attempts from 6.0 as a rookie to 11.1 this year and more than doubled his yardage per game this year from 35.0 to 75.8. If he doesn't miss any time, he has a chance to break Lamar Jackson's record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season. Jackson rushed for 1206 yards in his amazing 2019 MVP season.
As thrilling as Fields has been, it's unclear how effective his play style can be. He remains extremely mistake-prone: his 40 sacks and 13 fumbles both lead the league, and the Bears have only won one of their past eight games. Fields will need to develop as a passer if the Bears want to become a consistently above-average offense; they rank 30th in net yards per passing attempt and 32nd in net passing yards due in large part to Fields' propensity for sacks, and they've scored the 17th most points in the league despite leading the league in rushing.
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