Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields will "absolutely" not be shut down for the remainder of the season despite injuries to his shoulder and foot, head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters Monday.

Fields' status for the rest of the 2022 regular season had been uncertain since he suffered a left shoulder injury late in Chicago's Week 11 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He suffered the foot injury in Saturday's loss to the Buffalo Bills after getting stepped on.

Eberflus told reporters after the Falcons game that they were operating as if Fields would be "day to day," but he didn't rule out the possibility of shutting down his second-year quarterback for the season.

"We have not ruled that out at this point," Eberflus said when asked if the Bears could say the injury isn't season-ending. "We'll see where it is on Wednesday."

Even going into Week 12, the Bears were playing coy about Fields' status. He was officially a game-time decision against the New York Jets after being a limited participant in practice all week.

Fields went on a dazzling run of success prior to the injury. The 23-year-old threw for 963 yards, ran for 640 yards and accounted for 16 touchdowns in a six-game span from Weeks 6-11.

The Bears scored at least 24 points in each of the final five games during that stretch. Fields set an NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game by a quarterback when he ran for 178 against the Miami Dolphins in Week 9.

Fields' development in the second half of this season has been critical for a Chicago team that needed to see improvement from him after a rough start to his career. The No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 draft certainly looks like he can become a franchise quarterback.

The Bears will face the Detroit Lions on Sunday before closing out the season against the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 8.

Justin Fields continues to provide the Chicago Bears with a glimpse into the future, albeit in a losing effort.

The Philadelphia Eagles hung on for a 25-20 victory at Soldier Field in Chicago.

A breakdown in coverage by the Eagles secondary allowed Fields to hit Byron Pringle for a 35-yard touchdown pass to bring Chicago to within one score with two minutes, 43 seconds on the clock.

Philadelphia recovered the ensuing onside kick, though, and killed off the remaining time to secure their 13th win.

Fields finished 14-of-21 for 152 yards and two touchdowns while carrying the ball 15 times for 95 yards.

The Bears' 3-11 record and the six sacks the Eagles collected show how far Chicago still has to go. Between Fields' improvement and the roughly $122 million in projected salary-cap space it can spend for 2023, the franchise can potentially execute a significant turnaround.

Sunday's game was also notable for Fields setting a single-season rushing record for a Bears quarterback and becoming the third QB to reach 1,000 rushing yards. After Week 14, he has run for exactly 1,000 yards.

As tough as this season has been, ask almost any Bears fan and they'll probably say they're more optimistic about the franchise's long-term direction than they were before the year kicked off. That's almost entirely down to Fields because Chicago might have a special talent at quarterback for the first time in a long time.

For now, things won't get any easier for Fields and the Bears in Week 16 as they host the 11-3 Buffalo Bills.

The Chicago Bears have ruled out offensive lineman Teven Jenkins for the remainder of Sunday's matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles with a neck injury.

Jenkins suffered the injury in the first quarter and was carted off the field:

Michael Schofield replaced Jenkins at right guard.

The 24-year-old Jenkins is in his second season with the Bears as a second-round pick out of Oklahoma State in the 2021 NFL draft. He's made 12 starts with Chicago, including 10 this year.

His injury added to the challenges of a beat-up Bears offense. Wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown left the game before Jenkins with a concussion, while fellow wideouts Chase Claypool (knee) and N'Keal Harry (knee) are both out Sunday.

The Bears came into Sunday's matchup with the NFL's best team, the 12-1 Eagles, with a 3-10 record. Despite those struggles, it's been an exciting season given the ascendance of second-year quarterback Justin Fields.

The Bears appear to be heading down the stretch as a hobbled team, at least on offense. Losing offensive linemen isn't ideal as the Bears look to keep Fields upright.

Fields is an elite runner and seems to be at his best when the pocket collapses and the play breaks down. He may need to call upon that skill set even more given the injuries around him.

The hope will be that Jenkins' injury isn't as serious as it appeared.

Having settled into his new surroundings with the Baltimore Ravens, Roquan Smith is looking back at the lead-up to the end of his time with the Chicago Bears.

Speaking to The Athletic's Dan Pompei, Smith said Bears general manager Ryan Poles told him "numerous times" that he didn't plan to trade him.

"So I was like, 'I guess I won't be going anywhere.' He said we'd talk at the end of the season," Smith said.

After contract talks stalled in training camp, Smith requested a trade Aug. 9. He said in a statement: "The new front office regime doesn't value me here. They've refused to negotiate in good faith, every step of this journey has been 'take it or leave it.'"

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said on The Pat McAfee Show that Chicago made an offer that would have made Smith the NFL's highest-paid linebacker paper, but the deal was "way backloaded" with a high salary in the final season to inflate the average annual value.

Smith told reporters after returning to the Bears on Aug. 20 his trade request was denied and his "full focus" was on the regular season.

Prior to the Nov. 1 trade deadline, the Bears sent Smith to the Ravens for linebacker A.J. Klein and two 2023 draft picks, a second-rounder and a fifth-rounder.

Speaking to the media Nov. 1, Poles said he decided to move Smith because he felt it was "highly unlikely" the two sides would find common ground on a long-term extension.

The Bears drafted Smith with the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He made the All-Pro Second Team in 2020 and 2021.

Smith looks to have found a home with the Ravens. The 25-year-old has 36 combined tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass breakups in five games since the trade.

Baltimore has won four of five games and the defense is allowing 13.4 points per game since Smith arrived.