Reiterating what he said following Saturday's loss to the Bills, Bears coach Matt Eberflus told reporters Monday that Justin Fields is fine after injuring his foot late in the contest.
"Like I said after the game, he got stepped on," Eberflus said. "He's good to go. He's healthy, he's ready to go for this week."
Fields had his foot stepped on while throwing an incomplete pass on fourth-and-14 with 2:08 to play. After the Bills extended their lead to 35-13, backup quarterback Nathan Peterman played the Bears' final drive, completing 3 of 5 passes for 25 yards and throwing an interception on a Hail Mary as time expired.
Fields is expected to start the final two games against the Lions in Detroit and versus the Vikings at Soldier Field. Eberflus revealed that the Bears have "absolutely not" considered shutting down the second-year pro for the rest of the season "because we've got to get better."
"We want to improve," Eberflus said. "We want to see where we are. These last two games matter. They're division opponents to us. [It's] very important to our football team to see the competition, to see guys compete against our division. I think it's important for each man, it's important for each unit and it's important for our whole football team."
At 3-12, the Bears currently are in position to land the second overall pick in next year's draft, and they're only a half-game behind the Texans (2-12-1) for the top overall selection. But coaches and players, of course, remain focused on winning their final two games.
"I would see value in that because we have to learn how to finish," Eberflus said. "Two days ago … it was fourth quarter, eight minutes to go, it was 21-13, right? We got the ball and we've got to learn how to finish.
"They're getting close to really understanding how to finish the game, and you finish with game-defining execution. That's what you finish with. You finish in those moments that the plays, when they matter in the fourth quarter, we execute. And to me, these next two games are just about that; being able to execute in those game-defining moments, those plays that matter and getting it done. And to me, that's important going forward to the future."
