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Justin Fields misses practice, should still play vs Bills

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LAKE FOREST – The Bears’ invasive injury bug has now struck the team’s rookie quarterback.

Justin Fields was held out of Wednesday’s practice at Halas Hall in what was described by head coach Matt Nagy as a “super conservative” decision after the quarterback dealt with groin soreness Tuesday.

“We just got to be smart. And it doesn't make sense right now to push the limits with him and take a chance of making it more sore,” Nagy said.

Second-year tight end Cole Kmet was also held out with hamstring tightness.

“Cole Kmet and Justin Fields are two guys we are going to be extremely conservative with,” Nagy said. “So those two guys we're going pull back.”

The Bears’ roster of healthy players is so limited that Nagy opted to pull the pads off mid-way through Wednesday’s practice. They got the rest of their reps in without pads.

The good news for Fields is that the plan is still for him to play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Bills. In fact, the decision to hold him out of practice was made with the game in mind.

“Every day from here up until Saturday, we just gotta be careful with him, because the plan is we want to be able to evaluate him,” Nagy said. “I think if we asked you guys, would you rather him not practice today and play Saturday, or practice today and not play Saturday, what would you all pick? So you all can't get mad that he's not practicing today. We're trying to be smart with him.”

Interestingly, Tuesday’s practice was probably Fields’ worst of training camp. For a guy that has shown pinpoint accuracy in most practices, the rookie was off the mark often.

“He was a little sore and Justin is the last one that is going to tell you that that's an excuse,” Nagy said. “I mean, he was pissed off at some of the throws and just the way, in general, yesterday we were all -- I didn't think offensively we had a very good day. We were able to watch the film last night, go through it and correct it and see why and stuff.”

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