Justin Fields has many imperfections. Throwing a football to D.J. Moore isn’t one of them.
“I wouldn’t say Justin stares him down, but that’s his guy,” Vikings safety Camryn Bynum said of Chicago’s suddenly dangerous quarterback-receiver duo heading into Sunday’s matchup at Soldier Field. “Justin will look away and then go right back to D.J. You can tell that’s where he wants the ball to go.”
With good reason, too.
When targeting Moore 34 times this season, Fields’ passer rating is a perfect 158.3, according to Pro Football Focus. It’s 95.4 overall in a 1-4 start that has the Bears slumped alongside the Vikings in the NFC North’s basement.
Moore, the 26-year-old star receiver acquired as part of the trade that sent this year’s No. 1 draft pick to Carolina, has 27 catches and ranks first in yards per reception (19.7), fifth in receiving yards (531) and is tied with Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs in touchdown catches (five).
In other words, with Justin Jefferson on injured reserve, it’s the Bears who will have the best receiver on the field come Sunday.
Brought in to help Fields’ fledgling three-year NFL career, Moore is doing just that. Coming off a career-high 230 yards and three touchdowns on just eight catches in a 40-20 win at Washington, Moore became the first player to post 500 yards and five touchdowns receiving in his first five games with a new team since Randy Moss did it with the Patriots in 2007.
“Just another great receiver in this league who gets traded and really comes in and proves his point,” Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. said. “We have to lock in on that guy and not let him get those explosive plays.”
On passes thrown at least 20 yards in the air, Moore has eight catches on 13 targets for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Only Hill has more yards (262) and as many touchdowns on deep balls of 20-plus yards.
As for Fields, his last two games have stemmed the nothing-but-negative narrative that hung over him through Week 3. At that point, he was thought to be holding the ball too long, not throwing receivers open, not understanding defenses. He spent one midweek day making national news by first hinting to the media that coaching was part of his problem and then reassembling reporters to say coaching wasn’t part of his problem.
A game against Denver came at a good point. Chicago blew a 28-7 lead, but Fields completed his first 16 passes en route to career highs completions (28), completion percentage (80.0), passing yards (335), passing touchdowns (four) and passer rating (132.7 after a perfect 158.3 in the first half).
Next up was an uninspired Washington team the following Thursday. Fields posted a 125.3 passer rating while throwing another four touchdown passes to join Jay Cutler (2009) as the only Bears player to throw at least four TDs in consecutive games.
The Vikings, meanwhile, rank 30th in opponents’ passer rating (110.8) behind only Chicago (111.1) and Denver (117.8). They also rank 31st in opponents’ completion percentage (76.4) behind only Denver (76.4). And rookie cornerback Mekhi Blackmon might see a larger role with starter Akayleb Evans limited by a knee injury in practice this week.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is expected to go with a blitz-heavy game plan because, well, that’s just who he is. His blitz percentage is a league-high 56% while Fields is the NFL’s eighth-most blitzed quarterback (55%) and its third-most sacked (20) despite being arguably the league’s most dangerous running quarterback.
“I don’t see Minnesota changing who they are just because we’re having some success,” Fields told reporters this week. “I do expect them to make some adjustments [to covering Moore]. But we know they are a high-pressure team that’s going to trust their guys to get the job done against him.”