National Football League

Should Bears play Justin Fields Sunday? What's at stake now and in future

Updated Dec. 1, 2022 5:52 p.m. ET

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Carmen Vitali

NFC North Reporter

The Chicago Bears have a decision to make with their potential franchise quarterback. Justin Fields suffered a shoulder separation with partially torn ligaments to his non-throwing shoulder in Chicago's loss to the Falcons at home in Week 11 and missed last weekend's game against the Jets in New York.

The separated shoulder is an AC joint injury, as Fields described it a week ago.

"These injuries, AC joint sprains or shoulder separations, are generally treated non-operably," said Dr. Nikhil Verma, team physician for other local Chicago sports teams like the White Sox and Bulls, on the CHGO podcast. "In general, patients can often return to full competition somewhere between one to, at most, six weeks beyond the injury."

Fields traveled with the team to New Jersey last weekend and on Wednesday revealed that he thought he was going to play at MetLife Stadium. He was ultimately held out and an injured Trevor Siemian ended up starting in his place.

Fields wasn't misguided in his hope to play, though. Players can play through these types of AC joint injuries, and have. There is actually minimal risk of further injury, barring the player taking the exact same hit that caused the injury in the first place.

"We think the risk is relatively small," said Verma. "If you take the same hit again, you can take a grade one or grade two injury and make it a grade four or grade five injury … That would certainly delay his recovery and if he were to reinjure that shoulder, potentially put him out for the rest of the year."

With all that understood, the Bears now have to decide whether pride is worth that risk. Chicago has the second-worst record in the league at 4-8. The season is essentially lost. 

But beating Green Bay is enough to somewhat make up for a down season given how deep this rivalry runs. Heck, the matchup means enough for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to fight through multiple injuries himself and play this weekend. You have to think Fields is vying to do the same again, especially if he was willing to play against the Jets last weekend.

The Bears themselves might be more inclined to let Fields test his injury, given how abysmal the Packers have been against the run. Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay gave up over 360 yards on the ground. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, perhaps the prototype for what the Bears want Fields to turn into, had 157 of those rushing yards himself. Those are numbers pre-injured Fields is used to. Against the Dolphins in Week 9, Fields rushed for 178 yards, breaking Michael Vick's single-game rushing record for a quarterback.

"I think we'd be foolish not to plan for Justin, because if you don't, you will get gutted," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said this week.

That certainly sounds like a favorable matchup for the Bears, who are 4.5-point home underdogs on Sunday. 

"I'm going to talk to the trainers and the coaches," Fields said on Wednesday. "We don't know if we're going to make it to the bye week. We don't even know if we're going to make it to tomorrow. Like I said, we're going to see how practice goes today, and just see how I feel during practice."

Fields was a full participant in Thursday’s practice for the first time since Week 11.

If Fields did test the injury, he'd only have to push it until after the game. The team then goes into their Week 14 bye, where Fields would get the opportunity to rest his shoulder further. They could then bring him back in Week 15 to continue his development. With minimal risk of reinjury, the issue really just becomes about pain, which can be somewhat managed according to Dr. Verma. 

"This is an injury that sometimes in certain situations … we may do an injection into that joint but there's only so much that will get you and only so long that will last," Verma said. "There are more complications associated with the injections themselves so … as a physician, as a coach, as the management side, what you've really got to decide is holding him out another week or so in the long-term scheme of things for a player like this, who you are hoping is going to be the future of your franchise, that probably seems like a pretty good trade-off to me, versus trying to rush him back for a season that probably doesn't mean a whole lot at this point other than his development. 

Should the pain not be managed all the way, or should the medication or injections wear off within the game, Fields could be rendered ineffective anyway.

"It's really based on function and performance," Verma continued. "Even though they're not at risk of having another injury, if they can't hand the ball off because it's too painful or impairs their ability to move the way that Justin needs to do to be successful on the field, then it doesn't really help the Bears or him to be playing."

Another consideration: the Bears' game plan would likely change knowing their quarterback is playing through this type of injury. They may be less willing to call the arsenal of designed run plays that have made Fields so dangerous. Instead, their approach would force Fields to stay inside the pocket and throw the ball more. With so much uncertainty still on the offensive line, is that really a better option?

If Fields can't play to his full skill set, is it worth playing him at all?

That brings me to the next and final option: Caution. The Bears could shut Fields down for the rest of the season. He isn't going to develop the same way or at the same rate if he's having to account for an injury and make adjustments based on it. You're only risking other injury as you continue to play him. His top wide receiver is out for the season. His center isn't likely to be the starter next season. There isn't really any more chemistry he needs to build with other players on the offense at this point, save for maybe newcomer Chase Claypool. But that can happen in the offseason. There's no urgency or necessity to keep Fields in.

Other than of course, pride. And that's not nothing in the city of broad shoulders.

Justin Fields' rushing excellence

Before his injury, Justin Fields was on pace to break Lamar Jackson's single-season QB rushing record. Colin Cowherd applauds the Bears for 'getting it right' at QB.

Should the Bears win on Sunday, it would give them a better record than the Packers. If that holds up, Green Bay would end up picking ahead of the Bears in the 2023 draft. If Chicago loses, and continues along that trend as they take on the Eagles, Bills, Lions and Vikings to close out the season, they could be looking at a top-three pick and every available option within the draft, considering they don't need a quarterback.

So is pride worth risking your quarterback of the future and potential draft positioning? We'll find out on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

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Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.

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Carmen Vitali