Justin Fields' promising second season has itself a historic chapter following the Chicago Bears quarterback's latest performance on Sunday.
With 178 rushing yards in a losing effort against the Miami Dolphins, Fields set a new NFL record for rushing yards by a QB in a single regular-season game. The record was previously held by none other than Michael Vick, who had 173 yards against the Vikings in Week 13, 2002. The all-time QB rushing record is held by Colin Kaepernick, who rushed for 181 yards in a playoff game in 2013.
Fields' impressive day running the ball includes a thrilling 61-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that kept the Bears afloat against the high-powered Dolphins offense. Averaging 11.9 yards per attempt on Sunday, Fields' play-making capabilities on the ground have so far highlighted his noticeable growth in 2022, but the 23-year-old also showed a pronounced development as a passer amid his historic outing.
Completing 17 of 28 passes for a 106.7 rating, Fields also threw a career-high three TD passes against the Dolphins, and accounted for 301 of the Bears' 367 total offensive yards in the game. Fields is the first player since at least 1950 with 150-plus rushing yards and three-plus passing TDs in a single game, per NFL Research.
"I think I'm just growing, getting better each and every week," Fields said of the historic outing. "My main goal right now is just to continue to do that. Continue to trend up and each and every day at practice get better and better. That's really all you can do."
This isn't the first time a Bear has held a single-game rushing record, of course. The iconic Walter Payton rushed for an NFL single-game record 275 yards on Nov. 20, 1977, against the Minnesota Vikings. Payton's record held for more than two decades before the Cincinnati Bengals' Corey Dillon broke it in 2000. Adrian Peterson currently holds the league single-game standard for any position with his 296-yard showing as a member of the Vikings in 2007 against the Chargers.
Fields' latest performance on Sunday was as promising as it gets for a Bears franchise that has missed out on the league's QB revolution in recent decades. Even in a losing effort on Sunday, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus recognized how important the continued progression of Fields is for Chicago.
Said Eberflus after the defeat: "Obviously, a huge step for Justin Fields and the franchise today."
