Bears’ visit to Atlanta a home run for Fields
ATLANTA — In his second NFL season, quarterback Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears are learning how to score.
Learning to win has been the more difficult lesson.
Fields will be in the spotlight for his Georgia homecoming as the Bears and Atlanta Falcons match strong running games — and deflating losing streaks — Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Fields, a native of the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw and a prep star for the Harrison Hoyas, began his college career with the Georgia Bulldogs before transferring to Ohio State.
Fields’ family had Falcons season tickets. He said his favorite Atlanta players were quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones, who have both moved on to other teams.
Fields didn’t know how many of his friends and family members will attend the game.
“I know my regular people are going — my mom, my dad,” he said. “But of course it’s exciting, for sure. My goal really is just to go 1-0 this week and win the game down there.”
Fields, a first-round draft pick last year, has solidified his status as the Bears’ franchise quarterback by leading the NFL’s top rushing offense. He returns to Atlanta after running for a combined 325 yards the past two weeks, the highest two-game total by an NFL quarterback; it surpassed the 268 two-game total by the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson in 2019.
Fields ran for 178 yards against the Miami Dolphins two weeks ago and added 147 in last week’s 31-30 loss to the Detroit Lions.
“He knows how to move the ball around and he knows how to use his legs to make big plays,” Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell said. “We’ve just got to key in on the details and just make sure we attack him the right way and don’t let him loose, keep him contained and not let him get out of the pocket for sure.”
After scoring 90 points in their first six games, the Bears have scored 91 in their past three. More points haven’t led to more wins, though, as Chicago (3-7) has lost three straight games and six of its past seven to sit at the bottom of the NFC North Division.
The Falcons (4-6) have dropped two straight and three of four, but they still trail the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers by only one game in the woeful NFC South.
Fields’ homecoming gives Falcons fans a chance to second-guess the team’s decision to bypass Fields and instead draft tight end Kyle Pitts with the No. 4 overall pick of the 2021 draft. The Bears selected Fields seven picks later.
Asked this past week to look back on that draft decision, second-year Atlanta coach Arthur Smith said: “There’s a lot of players available; you can go down that rabbit hole a lot of different ways.”
The Falcons traded Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in March and soon after acquired veteran Marcus Mariota — the No. 2 pick of the 2015 draft for the Tennessee Titans but a backup the past two seasons for the Las Vegas Raiders — before selecting University of Cincinnati standout Desmond Ridder with a thirdround pick in April. Smith continues to express confidence in Mariota while Ridder has yet to make his debut.
Pitts, a 6-foot-6, 246-pounder who showed the skill set of a wide receiver at Florida, topped 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, when he had 68 catches on 110 targets. In nine games this season, he has been targeted 54 times — second on the team to rookie receiver Drake London — and has 25 catches for 313 yards.
The Bears lead the NFL by averaging 201.7 rushing yards per game and the Falcons are fourth with 160.4, but the passing numbers have suffered for both run-first offenses. Chicago is last in the league in passing and Atlanta ranks 30th.