Justin Fields wins weekly award after crazy game on the ground

After rushing for 147 yards and two touchdowns during Sunday’s 31-30 loss against the Lions, Justin Fields has been awarded as the Week 10 FedEx Ground player of the week. New York Giants’ running-back Saquon Barkley was the sole player to have more rushing yards than Fields at 152, but Fields earned the nod after being one of three players to rush for two touchdowns. The other two players, James Conner and Devin Singletary are not only starting running backs but also rushed for 75 yards less than Fields on Sunday.

While Fields won this award in part by being the NFL’s second-leading rusher last week, his two rushing touchdowns were beyond spectacular. The first came at the end of the first half, where Fields evaded four defenders behind the line of scrimmage and trucked across the goalline to tie the game.

The second rushing touchdown was perhaps even more impressive. Tied in the fourth quarter, Fields took a designed quarterback run 67 yards to the house, shaking one defender in space and simply outrunning the entire defense, including Lions’ cornerback Jeff Okudah, who not only played with Fields at Ohio State but got a pick-six off the Bears’ quarterback earlier in the game.

Over the last five games, going back to the loss against the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football, Justin Fields averages 111 rushing yards and a touchdown per game. While this is an extremely small sample size, it is important to note that the only players who are averaging over 100 rushing yards this season include Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, and Nick Chubb, all of whom are right around 105 rushing yards per game.

Justin Fields wins the award after finishing as a runner-up in Week 9 after a great performance against the Dolphins where he had 178 rushing yards and one touchdown. Fields lost to Cincinnati Bengals’ running back Joe Mixon, who had four rushing touchdowns despite having 25 fewer rushing yards.

Justin Fields becomes the second non-running back to win the FedEx Ground player of the week alongside New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill. Fields also becomes the second Bears player to win this award, joining Khalil Herbert who won in Week 3.

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With Khalil Herbert being played on injury reserved, Justin Fields and David Montgomery will have to shoulder more in the run game as reserve back Tristan Ebner may look to get more involved.