Justin Field’s status for Thursday’s Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions game is in the air – and Andy Dalton says he will prepare as if to start

To the Chicago Bears fans who are sticking with this 3-7 season because they can at least see the growth of rookie quarterback Justin Fields, Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens was like taking a helmet to your stomach.

Fields missed most of the second half at Soldier Field after sustaining injured ribs, and his status is in doubt about Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

Bears coach Matt Nagy was typically evasive with his answers about Fields’ injury after the game.

He said he did not know if Fields’ ribs were broken, if the injury happened on a game or was the result of several hits, or if there is a chance that Fields could recover in time for the Thanksgiving match.

“We just have to see where Justin is,” Nagy said. “When you talk about the ribs, you have to find out how much it affects him. We as staff have to talk through that.”

Fields’ friend Simeon Kelley has posted an Instagram video of Fields lying after the game and said Fields has a bruised rib.

“Just a little bruised rib, right? Not broken?” said Kelley in the video.

“No, sir,” Fields said.

Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Fields had his spleen checked over his ribs, according to a tweet from NFL reporter Chris Mortensen.

Fields’ last game was a 6-yard run with 12:12 to play in the third quarter. Ravens linebacker Tyus Bowser hit Fields and then pulled him down the leg. Fields walked to the sideline and spent a few minutes talking to the Bears’ training staff before entering the injury tent and then into the locker room.

Andy Dalton, who had taken three offensive snaps in the Bears’ previous seven games, took over in the second half and would start against the Lions if Fields could not go.

The 11-year-old NFL veteran lost his job to Fields earlier in the season when he sustained a bone bruise in his left knee in Week 2. After a rocked first start against the Cleveland Browns, Fields played well enough in the Bears’ first encounter with the lions that Nagy abandoned his plan to get Fields to learn behind Dalton.

Nagy named Fields the starter, and Dalton had only played one other series against the Las Vegas Raiders when Fields was briefly injured.

“I’ve been through a lot,” Dalton said after the game Sunday in his first public comments since losing his job to Fields. “There’s a lot that’s gone from the start of the year to the injury of not playing, and that’s one of those things – I support my faith. I knew God had me here in Chicago by a reason.

“Football is a part of it. There is more to it. To be the good teammate, to be a guy in the locker room that guys can lean on and be ready for the next opportunity. And that is, I feel what I have done. ”

Dalton had more success than Fields had on Sunday.

After Fields game in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago, with fans and media buzzing with excitement, he came out of the farewell week, completing just 4 out of 11 passes on 79 yards, had four carries on 23 yards and lost a fumble.

One of the Bears ‘four drives in the first half ended on Cairo Santos’ missed 40-yard field goal. Another ended when Bowser had a strip-sack of the Fields and Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell recovered on the Baltimore 34-yard line.

The Ravens had 40 offensive games for the Bears’ 23 in the first half and possessed the football for more than 10 minutes longer than the Bears as they led 6-0 at the break.

“They are a good defense and they will present different things to us,” Nagy said. “I think we had 17 plays before the two-minute warning.… Seventeen pieces, it’s hard to get into a rhythm, and it starts with the first drive. We got there and we ended up missing that field goal. “But just rhythmically, we did not get into it.”

After Fields went to the locker room with his injury, the Dalton Bears led on a two-play, 83-yard touchdown drive. He hit Jimmy Graham with a 23-yard pass and then threw a short pass to Darnell Mooney, who avoided three Ravens defenders to score a 60-yard touchdown to a 7-6 lead.

After the Ravens repeated the lead on Justin Tucker’s 46-yard field goal, Dalton led a 10-play, 75-yard drive. At fourth-and-11 with 1:48 left, wide receiver Marquise Goodwin blew off Raven’s cornerback Chris Westry to get a 49-yard touchdown pass.

After the Ravens took the lead 16-13, the Bears got the ball back with 22 seconds left, but fell short. Dalton, who finished 11 of 23 for 201 yards and the two touchdowns, said he tried to stay calm and have fun as he entered the game.

“You can not take any opportunity, at any time, for granted,” he said. “That was the thing – just go up there and just have fun. It was a sweet drive to go two games and a touchdown.”

Neither Dalton nor Mooney had spoken to Fields right after the game, so they could not provide an update on how he was doing.

Bears coaches and players will be back at Halas Hall on Monday to prepare for the Lions. Dalton, who stepped in to start nine games with the Dallas Cowboys last season in place of the injured Dak Prescott, said he will prepare for the short week as if he would start.

If Dalton starts, the Bears will be in the hands of a quarterback who has started 144 career games. But they will not be in the hands of the player who is expected to lead them into the future.

“I’m sure both quarterbacks, no matter who we put in,” Mooney said. “Andy has shown us in practice, in games, that he can stand and do what he can, and he has been doing that for a while. So there is no difference out there.

“We were able to go down there and put some points on the board and he was not shocked by it or worried. He came in with a lot of confidence, like, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s do what we always do and go out there and score. ‘ And we scored. ”