Justin Fields' Boneheaded In-Game Hurdle Results In Extremely Chaotic Micah Parsons Fumble Return Touchdown
Justin Fields got overwhelmed by a chaotic in-game moment Sunday and it resulted in one of the more bizarre touchdowns of the year. It was a truly boneheaded decision.
Late in the third quarter, Chicago's offense had the ball at its own 19-yard-line on 3rd-and-17. Fields took the snap, dropped back in the pocket, dodged the rush and delivered a strike to David Montgomery.
Although the Bears running back was well short of the line to gain, he had a lot of open field in front of him. And a completion was better than a sack.
After shaking a diving Trevon Diggs, Montgomery broke to the sideline with N'Keal Harry in front to block. For a moment, it looked like had a chance to get the first down.
What looked like a potential Bears first down quickly turned into a Cowboys touchdown because of Justin Fields.
Harry could not hold his block, so a Cowboys defender got loose and stripped Montgomery. The fumble bounced along the turf and Micah Parsons fell on the loose ball.
Out of nowhere, Fields got up field and was the first Bears player to get to Parsons. All he had to do was touch him, and the play would have been ruled dead.
Instead, Fields hurdled Parsons, who got up and ran 36 yards for a touchdown.
Again, all Fields had to do was put a finger on Parsons for the play to end. Or, since he chose to go up and over, all that needed to touch was the tip of his cleat or even a shoelace.
The play would have been whistled dead and Parsons would not have been able to get up and keep running. He would not have scored.
Unfortunately for Fields, his mind went blank in that moment and he pulled off a perfectly executed hurdle. It was completely clean and he missed Parsons entirely.
Obviously, Fields got mixed up. He wasn't thinking and it proved costly.