Justin Fields’ Slip ‘N Slide celebration — ‘a snapshot moment’ — caps the Chicago Bears’ wild, moist comeback win

Just earlier than the ultimate play of the Chicago Bears’ 19-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Justin Fields heard a teammate make the suggestion.

He’s undecided who mentioned it, perhaps an offensive lineman. But the Bears quarterback instantly agreed.

“Oh, yeah, everybody’s got to do it,” Fields advised his teammates.

So after Fields took the snap from heart Sam Mustipher and kneeled to expire the clock, he popped again up, tossed the ball behind him and raced 20 yards to the Soldier Field finish zone.

With left deal with Braxton Jones and tight finish Cole Kmet on his tail, Fields dived headfirst throughout the rain-soaked grass, spreading his arms huge in a Superman pose, an enormous smile underneath his helmet, a sprig of water taking pictures out from beneath him.

The Slip ‘N Slide celebration was the proper topper to a wildly moist, come-from-behind victory during which the Bears scored 19 second-half factors to upset the 49ers, who final season made it to the NFC championship sport.

“That was a snapshot moment,” Fields mentioned.

It was one of some highlights for Fields, who helped spark the rally after a primary half during which the offense netted 68 yards and Fields had a 2.8 passer score.

“Rough sledding in the first half,” coach Matt Eberflus mentioned. “We were trying to find our way. And then we found our way going into the two-minute drive (at the end of the first half). They really picked up the pace from there.”

Fields led three straight second-half landing drives and completed with 121 passing yards, two touchdowns, an interception, an 85.7 score and 28 dashing yards.

The turning level got here late within the third quarter on a third-and-10 play and the 49ers holding a 10-0 lead.

Fields escaped a sack try from diving defensive deal with Arik Armstead and raced left away from defensive finish Charles Omenihu. As Fields regarded up, huge receiver Dante Pettis was huge open on the proper facet of the sector. Fields lofted a move to make it straightforward to catch.

“Just ran a deep route over the middle,” Pettis mentioned. “I used to be supposed to take a seat there within the zone, and I broke again out as a result of there was no one there and I rotated and noticed Justin working the opposite manner. I regarded round and there was no one by me. … All of a sudden I see him arrange the throw to me, and I used to be like, ‘All right, let’s go.’

“The ball felt like it was in the air forever. I was just waiting there, caught it basically like a punt and just took off.”

Pettis had 16.2 yards of separation from the closest defender when he caught it, in response to NFL NextGen stats, the third-most on a landing move during the last three seasons.

Pettis raced 30 yards to the top zone, getting assist from huge receiver Equanimeous St. Brown’s block for a 51-yard landing.

“That was the play that changed the momentum of the whole game,” Fields mentioned. “Once that play happened, that started everything else.”

With some assist from two 49ers penalties, the Bears offense discovered a rhythm on the subsequent drive to arrange Fields’ 18-yard landing move to St. Brown.

St. Brown mentioned the play was designed to go to fullback Khari Blasingame, however Fields discovered St. Brown streaking into the top zone between two defenders.

Fields stayed affected person with a move rusher barreling towards him and threw the move in stride to St. Brown, who whipped the soccer on the wall behind the top zone to rejoice the Bears taking a 13-10 lead.

“I felt the defenders coming down soft and then saw EQ,” Fields mentioned. “He took a good angle with that safety right there, and I just hit him for the touchdown. And of course the O-line did a great job protecting on that play. So proud of those guys.”

The Bears capitalized on Eddie Jackson’s interception with a 21-yard landing drive on their subsequent collection, capped by working again Khalil Herbert’s 3-yard rating for the 19-10 outcome.

The moist area situations had been enjoyable for the postgame celebration, however they did make life tough for Fields, who recommended Mustipher for a way he dealt with the snaps.

Knowing Sunday could be wet, Fields practiced moist ball drills with gloves earlier within the week after which wore them on sport day. He tried a collection with out gloves however mentioned it was most secure to play with them. But nonetheless the rain had an affect.

“It’s just inconsistent,” Fields mentioned. “So some throws you have full control and then some throws the ground is so wet that you don’t have as much grip. So it just differs every play.”

There had been some tough moments within the first half, together with when 49ers security Talanoa Hufanga jumped in entrance of Fields’ move to Darnell Mooney within the first quarter. But Fields mentioned he was happy that “the team as a whole just fought through adversity the whole game.”

In explicit, the comeback was a lift for the offense, which has been scrutinized exterior Halas Hall for months over whether or not sufficient expertise surrounds Fields.

St. Brown mentioned the Bears haven’t purchased into that speak.

“We’ve been training our whole lives for this,” he mentioned. “This is our career. It’s our job to make performs and catch the ball. Wherever the doubt comes from, it doesn’t hassle us. We know what we will do.

“I knew we were resilient as a team. In the media there were a lot of doubters going in. But we knew what we had to do. We knew we were going to win the game. It’s not a surprise to us at all.”

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