Tired of Bears being 'almost there' after loss

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Standing at the dais with grass stains all over his white pants, a sign of how many hits he took in a 12-7 loss to the Washington Commanders, Bears quarterback Justin Fields expressed frustration over what has resulted in Chicago dropping three straight.

Fields said that they are always told that they are almost there. I'm tired of being close to it. I don't want to be this close. I've been listening to it for a long time. You can't do anything at the end of the day. You have only one reaction. You learn from living. Get back next week and keep working.

The loss to the Commanders was caused by Chicago's inability to score on three trips inside the red zone, the second time that's happened in its past three games. During the Bears' 20-12 loss at the New York Giants in Week 4, they went 0-for-5 in the red zone.

The first red zone pick of his career was thrown by Fields on the second drive of the game. The Bears were able to get to the 1-yard line on their next drive, thanks in part to a 64 yard run from Herbert on the first play from scrimmage. Herbert was unable to punch the ball in on fourth down.

Fields ran the longest run of his career on the last drive of the game. Fields threw a pass that hit the receiver in the chest as he crossed the plane of the goal line. The ball was not secured until just before the end zone.

The quarterback answered the red zone issues bluntly.

Fields told them to make it when the play is there. Simple and plain. There is no way to get things done. It is not difficult. When you have the chance, finish. That's it. Tonight, we didn't do that. You don't have to make it more difficult than it is.

One player ate at Fields after the game. On the Bears' second red zone drive, Fields and Ryan Griffin failed to connect on second-and 3 from the Washington 3-yard line when the veteran tight end had 4.05 yards of separation.

Fields said that the one that was making him mad was the one to Griff. He's wide open and probably could have run a little bit more. I need to hit that. I play quarterback in the National Football League. I have to hit that

The Bears are the second team this season to have at least 400 yards of offense and less than 10 points. Fields had 190 yards and a touchdown on 14-of- 27.

The Bears had a second place finish in receiving yards and second place in targets.

Fields and the offense failed to follow up on a strong second-half performance from a Week 5 loss at the Minnesota Vikings, where the quarterback had the Bears in position late.

After the Bears lost to the Vikings, Matt Eberflus didn't think Fields' outing was a step back.

Eberflus thinks he took a step forward. I definitely do.

It's because of the strength. The ability to take the ball and drive it down at the end allowed us to win it. Well, okay? There were other times when we needed to clean up and offense needed to clean up. It's definitely true. The game isn't the same if we punch those in. There are 21 points. I was really inspired to see him take us down to win it at the very end. We came up short for the third time. Next time, we need to do a better job.

Fields has the lowest completion percentage, off-target percentage, sack percentage, and pressure percentage in the league. He had a completion percentage over expectation of 10% and a interception percentage of 4%.

Through six games, the Bears have thrown 115 passes, the lowest number of passes thrown by any team since 1982.

Fields was slow to get up in between plays after taking a lot of hits. The quarterback said after the game that he reaggravated an injury to his left shoulder, but he didn't say if it was against the Commanders or a previous game.

Fields was pressured 18 times by Washington. In the first six games of the season, the Bears quarterback has been pressured on 42% of his dropbacks, which is the highest rate of pressure a quarterback has faced in that time.

The Bears had to deal with injuries to their left and right guards in the third quarter, but both of them came back.

Eberflus was asked if the offensive line would need to be reexamined during the mini-bye week.

Eberflus said everything would be reexamined. Everything from the plan to the players. Coming up, we're going to do a good job of that. We are going to make sure that we get it to the players.

"If it's a lineup change, technique, Fundamentals, scheme, how we're running certain plays, who we're getting ball to, what we're doing well, what we need to improve on."