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Justin Fields cleared to practice, will play vs Jets if he's ready

November 23, 2022

LAKE FOREST — With mixed reports circulating about Justin Fields and the severity of his left shoulder injury, Wednesday brought clarity about the second-year quarterback.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus gave an update on Fields in his Wednesday morning press conference.

“Justin remains to day-to-day,” Eberflus said. “He’s been cleared to practice today and, again, since it’s a walk-through the estimation is that he will be limited in practice. So, that’s where he is right now and again we’ll assess that as we go through the week. He’s feeling pretty good and we’ll see where it goes from there. Day-to-day.”

Fields injured his left non-throwing shoulder on the first play of the Bears’ final offensive drive in the 27-24 loss to the Falcons. Fields was hit by defensive back Dee Alford while running towards the sideline and was in immediate pain.

Eberflus also was asked whether or not Fields would be a candidate to go on IR, and he simply answered, “No.”

As for the exact injury, Eberflus did not clarify if Fields’ left shoulder is “separated” or “dislocated” and if he would have to wear a shoulder brace moving forward.

The Bears will practice today and are scheduled to do a walkthrough, which will still allow the coaching staff to get an assessment of Fields and how he is dealing with the injury.

“Yeah, I mean during a walkthrough you do movements,” Eberflus said. “You’re moving around. You’re handing the ball off. You’re going through the simulation of running a play. So we’ll see how he feels doing that, and then we’ll ramp up tomorrow and ramp up more on Friday.”

With six games left and the Bears at 3-8, some may be wondering what is the benefit to playing Fields and risking further injury.

For Eberflus, it’s simple.

“That’s a good question,” Eberflus said. “I would just say that if he’s ready to play, he’s going to play. He feels that way, we feel that way. If he’s ready to go, feels good about it, he’s going to play the game. Really, the reason is because we’re trying to win. We want to win the game. There’s a lot of great things to getting the experience of playing a game, every single game we can. That’s an important part to this season.”