Bear Down, Nerd Up: Examining Justin Fields’ short passing attack, DJ Moore’s 1,000-yard season

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

The Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, and found a way to do it in a fashion not seen in Chicago in three decades.

The Bears became the first NFL team to win a game without scoring a touchdown this season. It marked the first time the Bears won a game without scoring a touchdown since Oct. 3, 1993. That day, the Bears beat a winless Falcons team, 6-0, off two field goals from kicker Kevin Butler. It also happened to be the Bears’ 1,000th game in franchise history.

Here are the other numbers, stats and figures that stood out in Week 12 for the Bears.

Let’s talk game plan: Yes, Justin Fields threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage 16 times. That was clearly the Bears’ game plan against a blitz-heavy Vikings defense, led by defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

Fields was highly efficient on those quick, short passes, completing 14 of those 16 tries.

Here’s how head coach Matt Eberflus explained the game plan.

“It’s just the pressure,” Eberflus said. “The looks that they give you, the pressure that they give you. Six men up, seven men up [near the line of scrimmage], they’re all threatening right there. You can decide to do a couple different things there. You can spit the ball on the perimeter or you can max it up and have a two-man route and try and see if you can get it done that way.”

In Eberflus’ mind those are the two options: add extra protection via tight ends and running backs [which limits the number of receiving options], or throw it quickly and look for advantages on the perimeter.

Fields’ passes averaged 2.7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That was a career low, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

The fact is, the Bears executed their game plan well enough to win the game. Some fans might not like that Eberflus didn’t let Fields air it out more. Eberflus is trying to win football games. NFL coaches look at games through a microscope. They’re worried about the opponent in front of them. The plan of attack changes from week to week.

Monday’s game doesn’t have to say anything about Fields’ long-term potential as the starting quarterback. When Fields returned from a thumb injury two weeks ago, I wrote that this will be a pivotal seven-game stretch. It still is. But I’ll say this: When this is over, let’s look at the seven-game stretch as a whole, not any one particular game – good or bad.

Did we learn anything about Fields in this game? We saw him come back from two late fumbles and still lead the offense to a 66-yard game-winning drive in the final two minutes. Fields had never done that before.

It was his third game-winning, fourth-quarter drive as an NFL quarterback. His previous game-winning drives were a zero-yard drive against Houston last year when the offense started the possession in field goal range, and a fourth-quarter touchdown drive last year against the 49ers that came with 12 minutes still on the clock.

Mr. 1,000: Bears receiver DJ Moore passed 1,000 receiving yard for the season. This marks the 19th time that a Bears player totaled more than 1,000 receiving yards. Moore become the first Bears player to total 1,000 receiving yards since Darnell Mooney did it in 2021.

Moore totaled 11 catches for 114 yards in Monday’s game. That put him at 70 catches for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns this season. His 1,003 receiving yards make him just the fifth NFL receiver to pass 1,000 yards so far this season. Tyreek Hill leads the NFL with 1,324 receiving yards through Week 12. Keenan Allen (1,117), CeeDee Lamb (1,066) and A.J. Brown (1,050) are also ahead of Moore.

Moore became the fastest Bears receiver to reach 1,000 yards in a decade. Alshon Jeffery did it in 12 games during the 2013 season after going off for 249 yards in a Week 12 game against Minnesota.

Brandon Marshall holds the Bears’ single-season receiving record with 1,508 yards in 2012. Moore needs to reach at least 1,295 yards to make this a top-five season for a Bears receiver.

Only nine times has a Bears player ever caught 90 passes in one season. Moore, with 70, needs 20 more over the final five games.

Air it out: Here’s a crazy stat. Moore accounted for 63.9% of the Bears’ total “air yards,” which Next Gen Stats measures as the distance beyond the line of scrimmage that a given pass travels before it’s caught. Moore’s 36-yard completion on third-and-10 to set up the game-winning field goal traveled 23 yards through the air before Moore picked up 13 more yards after the catch. That was 10 yards farther than any other throw on Monday night.

H.I.T.S. in action: During his four seasons as the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator, Eberflus’ defenses finished in the top 10 in takeaways all four seasons.

After an abysmal first half of the season in the takeaway department, the Bears are finally coming around. Thanks to eight takeaways over the past two games, the Bears are nearing the top 10 in this category. They say turnovers come in bunches, and that has absolutely been true for the Bears over the past two weeks.

Their 17 takeaways are now tied for 12th among NFL defenses. The Bears’ 13 interceptions are only two behind the league lead – San Francisco with 15.

The Bears still are minus-four in takeaway differential. They’ve given the ball away 21 times (which ties for 28th).