All eyes were on Justin Fields as he warmed up before the Bears-Jets Week 12 matchup. It seemed unlikely that he would play, but would a pain-killing shot and a bit of persuasion be enough to convince coaches that Fields was good enough to play? The answer, unsurprisingly, turned out to be, “No.” But real surprises were ahead.
Just minutes after Trevor Siemian was named the starter on Sunday, the Bears announced Siemian hurt himself during warmups and it would be Natan Peterman leading the offense.
But just as soon as the Bears switched to Peterman, they switched back. There was no official announcement, but when the Bears offense took the field for the first time it was Siemian under center. If it sounds like a crazy turn of events, that’s because it was. Matt Eberflus has been a coach since 1994 and said it was the first time he’s ever experienced anything like the sudden QB shuffling that went on with the Bears on Sunday.
“Just throwing, something wasn’t right,” Siemian said. “Flared up on me, and got back in the locker room and figured something wasn’t right again, but gave it a go.”
Siemian said he didn’t receiver a pain-killing shot of his own as treatment and that the injury affected his performance a little bit. He finished the day with 14-25 passing for 179 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and wouldn’t use the injury as an excuse for his pedestrian day. Siemian said he was healthy enough to do what he needed to do on the field.
“Honestly, I’m more embarrassed. We’ve got guysー what are we, Week 13, Week 12?ー who are going through hell and I have a non-contact thing show up. So, yeah, not ideal, but everyone’s going through something at this point in the year.”
