Steelers 29, Bears 27
Q. What did you see from the defense in the second half that made you so much more productive than the first half?
JUSTIN FIELDS: From the defense? I mean, they stopped them more on offense. We got the ball more. I think the punt was a big play in the game, and they were playing tough in the second half.
Q. What changed for you specifically that made you -- made it easier for you to throw the ball?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I have no idea. I mean, I was just playing football.
Q. (Indiscernible) had the ball in your hands, what was going through your head when you line up to kick the field goal?
JUSTIN FIELDS: You said when they lined up and kicked the field goal?
Q. When they lined up to go up six, when you knew you were getting the ball back.
JUSTIN FIELDS: You're talking about before we scored the touchdown? Yeah, my mindset was just like, it's time, we're here. You can either be the guy who always gets put in that position and doesn't show up, or you can be that guy who shows up in the big moments. That was my mindset, and I was just calm and just focused on showing up.
Q. What do it feel like when you --
JUSTIN FIELDS: It felt great. Felt awesome. Mooney made a great catch on that play. We were on the same page, so it was awesome.
Q. Specifically what did you see on the deep ball before the touchdown pass?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, I saw Mann. I knew the ball was going to him the whole time, so once I saw Mann, there was not many guys that can guard A-Rob and Mann in the league, so I knew the ball was going to him the whole time. Of course he routed him up and made my job easier, just put it out there for him and made a great play.
Q. Can you speak to your play in the second half? Did you feel more comfortable in the second half than the first half?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I felt the same really. I just felt like the first half, every positive play, especially the start of the game, we just had a flag, flag, flag. So it was just like, we couldn't get things started and we couldn't get things going.
Q. The one touchdown that was negated --
JUSTIN FIELDS: I just talked to Jimmy, I said, good job out there playing, and then he said there was a flag on the play. Just devastating. Yeah, it's just frustrating, of course, all the penalties today, and just stuff like that. So yeah. Sucks.
Q. You got hit a couple times on that 3rd down play. Did you have a conversation or did you get an explanation?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah, he told me that he ran into me, which I thought is a late hit, so I mean, if you run into me after I throw the ball, I don't know. I said, Big Ben just got that call, so I don't know why you can't give me that call. I just needed him to call it both ways. That's what I told him. That's the only conversation we had.
Q. Are you getting a little frustrating that Roethlisberger gets a late hit called but --
JUSTIN FIELDS: I mean, it's a common theory. The vets, they get those calls. I think Joe Burrow said something like that a few weeks ago, like once we get older and once we get to that time, we're going to get those calls, but being a young QB you're just not going to get those calls and you just have to face the fact.
Q. Going into the bye week, is your mindset to reset, relax, get away?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Definitely getting away a little bit and then also just trying to get my body back right and just get it back to 100 percent.
Q. (On Jimmy's catch.)
JUSTIN FIELDS: Yeah. It was just one high. My read was just away from the safety, so I saw Jimmy, he had him booted a little bit, and I fit it in there on the seam route, so it was a great catch by him. I know it was a contested catch. Jimmy always shows up in big moments and he's always asking for the ball when it's in primetime, so he definitely made a big play out there.
Q. You guys had a higher volume of vertical shots; any explanation why?
JUSTIN FIELDS: No, that was just the game plan. Just game plan. Wanted to push the ball down the field more.
Q. How do you build off what you did against San Francisco and also what you did today?
JUSTIN FIELDS: Just keep going. Don't change. Don't think. Just keep working, keep working like it's week one, just don't get complacent and keep working.
Q. I know a loss is different, but what does a game like this do for your confidence offensively?
JUSTIN FIELDS: I think that just gives not only me but the offense confidence. After the game Cole came up to me and said, we're almost there. We've just got to keep working. Just seeing that, seeing the explosive plays, seeing our drives get put together, it just gives our offense more confidence and just pushes us to work harder because we know we're on the brink of being a great offense, so we're just going to keep working.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports