Justin Fields' status for the Packers game is looking better after full practice

LAKE FOREST — At the beginning of the week, it seemed unlikely Justin Fields and Aaron Rodgers would be playing in the Week 13 matchup between the Bears and Packers.

Now it’s more likely than not Fields will face Rodgers and return from his separated shoulder injury the second-year quarterback sustained towards the end of the Falcons game. Fields was a full participant in Thursday’s practice.

Before the practice, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy met the media and was asked about Fields’ health.

“Good. He’s kind of in the same boat as last week — day to day,” Getsy said. “Getting better. Taking some reps like he did last week. We’ll kind of play that thing out as the week goes just like we did last week.”

Last week, Fields was limited from Wednesday through Friday and was listed as questionable for the game against the Jets. So this full participation in Thursday’s practice is a good indication – as long as there are no setbacks – that Fields will play against Green Bay on Sunday.

So even though the Bears will have their bye week following the matchup with the Packers, that was never a factor in deciding whether Fields would play or not.

“It’s really just day to day, so (the bye week) doesn’t really factor in,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said on Wednesday. “It’s really what he is this week. Like those three hurdles we talked about, if he feels really comfortable and feels great and his mobility and strength’s back for the medical staff. And then … GM and head coach look at it and say, ‘Hey, green light.’ Then it’s a green light. “

If Fields plays, it’s worth wondering how often he will run.

Before the Bears’ 31-10 loss to the Jets, the team was averaging 29.6 points per game in its last five games. Over that span, Fields rushed for a total of 552 yards.

The Packers are coming off a 40-33 loss to the Eagles, and Green Bay’s defense gave up 363 rushing yards. Quarterback Jalen Hurts accounted for 157 yards.

Getsy was asked about what the Bears could possibly do in the ground game, especially if the team had Fields playing quarterback.”

“(We) can’t wait to always have Justin out there,” Getsy said. “Philly does a really nice job running the football a bunch of different ways and I think we’ve kind of shown that a lot throughout the year, a bunch of different ways. We hope to be able to have some of that success too.”

It will be interesting to see how Getsy calls the game, especially since Fields is just now starting to get healthy.