Last week, Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields the game was “actually kind of slow.” (He clarified that comment today; more on that below.) This week, after having his “welcome to the NFL” moment in the form of a wicked (and illegal) hit from Bills linebacker Andre Smith, Fields shrugged at the collision, which knocked his helmet off.
“It didn’t really hurt, to be honest with you,” Fields told reporters after the game. “I think the one thing that hurt was my helmet coming off and hitting me in the eye. But the actual hit, it wasn’t that crazy.” Fields said that it was bleeding a little bit at first.
As to his comment from the post-game press conference following the preseason opener against the Dolphins, Fields emphasized a point that he had added (but that many had ignored) last week. The game seemed slow because he’s used to practicing against the Chicago defense.
“That came out totally wrong,” Fields said. “Apparently the narrative was that I’m just that good, that the game was too slow. What I meant to say was that I go up against our first-team defense a lot throughout the week. So me going against them and playing these preseason games when starters aren’t in, that’s gonna slow the game down for me. Again, I just wanted to clear that up because I don’t want to come off as cocky or acting like I made it, because I know I have a lot of work to do.”
He definitely has a lot of work to do, but he has looked pretty good so far. Come the regular season, he’ll be doing most of his work out of the public eye, if Andy Dalton keeps the starting job beyond Week One.
