Don’t expect a surprise Justin Fields start on Sunday for Chicago Bears

There was progress on Friday for Chicago Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields as he returned to practice for the first time since suffering a dislocated right thumb injury against the Minnesota Vikings last month.

There was also some surprise on the Bears’ official injury report for their game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Despite Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus ruling Fields out for the game last Monday, the quarterback was not ruled out for the game when the team released their injury report for the game.

Fields was listed as doubtful and Eberflus provided a status update on the quarterback while speaking with reporters.

"“That’s really depending on Justin, where his pain tolerance is when he throws and then also the functionality of it,” Eberflus said. “It’s day to day and then (it depends) where the trainers say he is and we look at it as a coaching staff and say, ‘Hey, this is where he is. He’s accurate. Looks good. Everything looks on point.’ And go from there.”-Chicago Tribune"

Despite not officially being ruled out for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields is unlikely to play.

Fields also spoke with reporters at his locker on Friday at Halas Hall and confirmed that the grip is not fully recovered and there still is some pain. Fields was spotted practicing on Friday while wearing a glove on his throwing hand.

Despite Fields being officially listed as doubtful for the Bears game on Sunday, it still seems entirely unlikely that he will play. Friday was the first time that Fields has thrown a football since the injury occurred and it would seem less than ideal to have him return in a road game against the Saints.

With the Bears having a Thursday night game against the Carolina Panthers next week, Fields’ return to practice yesterday could be about getting him up to speed to start that game.