(670 The Score) It's the way these days are going to feel from here on in, and it's really not a bad development at all. Justin Fields keeps doing things we've never seen before, while the rest of the Bears struggle to overcome themselves.
So it was in the Bears' 31-30 loss to the Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field, where one of the NFL's most exciting individual players once again had our jaws dropping and eyes goggling while a lack of talent and discipline merely continued to make a higher draft pick more likely.
Fields completed 12 of 20 passes for 167 yards, two touchdowns and an interception while rushing for 147 yards and two more scores. There's so much more to be told in those numbers, however.
Let's get out of the way that the pick-six he threw to former Ohio State teammate Jeff Okudah was all kinds of wrong -- the downfield read, the decision, the weak throw itself, all of it -- particularly at the time it happened. But even with that baked in, Fields posted a 99.38 passer efficiency rating. Both touchdown passes were to emerging tight end Cole Kmet, and each time he came open due to the threat of Fields running causing Lion defenders to be either in conflict or confused completely.
Fields now has the most rushing yards by a quarterback in any five-game span since the AFL/NFL merger, and he even topped the franchise record he set last week with a 67-yard touchdown run -- the longest by a quarterback in Bears history -- that showed off his mercurial elusiveness and straight-line speed. On his other rushing score, Fields knocked Lions safety DeShon Elliott out of the game with a concussion when he took him on at the goal line.
It all happened in a loss because Matt Eberflus' team didn't do much else to evince his core principle. Their situational smarts took the day off, apparently, as ill-timed penalties stymied them on both sides of the ball. The nine in total cost them 86 yards and featured an appetizer platter of holding, facemask grabbing, illegal hands to the face that nullified what might have been a game-sealing Jack Sanborn interception and even an inexcusable kickoff out of bounds.
I'm not going to indulge the opportunity for blaming some of this on soft or phantom calls or the ongoing uneven interpretation of what constitutes pass interference, tempting though it may be. The fact is that NFL officiating is mostly maddeningly inconsistent, and good teams tighten up and play over it.
And as much as we've taken the reliability of Cairo Santos for granted, he helped the Bears lose this one with a pulled-wide extra point attempt after the go-ahead fourth-quarter score.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy had another strong day, continuing to use Fields' rushing to build everything else outward. The Bears' 258 rushing yards made them the first NFL team in modern history with at least 225 in five straight games, with the quarterback leading the way.
The burgeoning national story of Fields' arrival as a star is only going to continue, and while it always feels better for the Bears to win instead of lose, it doesn't matter yet anywhere near as much as he does.
Dan Bernstein is the co-host of the Bernstein & Holmes Show on middays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on 670 The Score. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan_Bernstein.
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