Eberflus says there's 'ongoing conversation' on whether Fields will play in finale

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus hasn't slammed the door on sitting Justin Fields in the Week 18 season finale against the Minnesota Vikings.

Fields played throughout Sunday's 41-10 loss to the Lions, despite the wide margin in the fourth quarter. Eberflus said Sunday after the game that live reps were too valuable to pass up.

"In-game experience, there's nothing like it," Eberflus said after the game. "We're not going to get that anywhere else."

Eberflus also said Sunday that he expected Fields to play in the season finale. On Monday at Halas Hall, however, the head coach made it sound like less of a foregone conclusion that Fields will play against the Vikings at Soldier Field. He indicated that he would meet with general manager Ryan Poles this week to discuss how they wanted to handle what is essentially a meaningless game for the Bears.

"We're working on that on everybody, including Justin," Eberflus said Monday afternoon. "And we're going to visit with Ryan, the rest of the coaching staff. The health of the football team, the entire health of the team, to me, is - where we were two weeks ago is different than where we are now. So I think it's important that we evaluate that."

Fields is 63 rushing yards shy of matching the quarterback rushing record. With 1,143 rushing yards on the season, Fields has a chance to catch Lamar Jackson's 2019 record of 1,206 yards with one more game.

On Sunday against Detroit, Fields rushed for another 132 yards on 10 carries.

Eberflus is well aware of where Fields is at in his record chase, but he noted that setting records would not skew their decision on what to do with Fields this week.

"It's an important factor, but it's not end-all, be-all," Eberflus said. "Certainly the health of our team is the most important thing."

Eberflus indicated that he expected to have a clearer indication of who will be playing quarterback when the team returns to practice on Wednesday and begins preparations for the Vikings game.

Asked directly if Fields will play if healthy, Eberflus said, "Yes," but he also seemed to keep open the possibility that the QB could sit.

"I would just say that ongoing conversations [are] about everybody," Eberflus said. "What we need to do, what's the best interest for our football team going forward. That conversation, we're going to have that all the way through Wednesday, all the way through Friday, and we'll decide as we go."

Injury updates:

Eberflus said receiver Dante Pettis flew home to Chicago on his own Sunday, apart from the team, after visiting a hospital in the Detroit area.

Pettis suffered a head injury, but cleared the concussion protocol, per Eberflus. The 27-year-old receiver experienced blurred vision and went to the hospital as a precautionary measure, Eberflus said.