Fields says without injury, Alabama game ‘could have went way differently’
Oh, what could have been.
Last week, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said he wished this past season’s College Football Playoff National Championship matchup against Alabama was played under “different circumstances,” citing a COVID-19 outbreak that caused the Buckeyes to have just one padded practice in the lead-up to the game.
RELATED: Day laments that Alabama game wasn’t played ‘under different circumstances’
At Justin Fields’ first press conference in Chicago on Friday, the new Bears quarterback shared a similar thought in regards to the 52-24 Ohio State loss in January, but not in terms of the lack of practice. Rather, Fields thinks the injuries that the Buckeyes carried into the title game were a major factor in the outcome.
“I think things could have went way differently,” Fields said. “We’ll really never know, so there’s no point in hoping for it.”
Just 10 days prior to the national championship game, Fields took a shot to the ribs and back with the crown of a Clemson helmet in the CFP semifinal that resulted in the ejection of Tiger linebacker James Skalski. Fields came out for a play, but despite being in visibly excruciating pain thereafter, the Georgia native put up 385 yards and six touchdowns in a Buckeye win.
Things didn’t play out quite the same against Alabama though, as Fields finished with just 194 yards and one touchdown on the night, which ended in a blowout Buckeye defeat.
“I don't think me not practicing affected my performance. I think me being injured that game definitely might have impacted my performance that game and what I could’ve done in the national championship game,” Fields said.
Less publicized leading up to the title matchup were the ailments to starting offensive linemen Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers, who revealed at Ohio State Pro Day on March 30 that they pushed through some serious injuries to finish off the year.
RELATED: Davis, Myers open up on injuries they ‘kept quiet’ during OSU season
Davis, who many think could be the second Ohio State draftee in this year’s class, finished the Alabama game on crutches due to a knee injury he said he’d been playing through since the Indiana game on Nov. 21, 2020.
Myers, another draft hopeful, required foot surgery following the season after initially suffering a turf toe injury in the Big Ten Championship Game that eventually led to multiple foot fractures.
“I think Wyatt and Josh, they’re tough players, and of course after the Clemson game a good bit of us got beat up pretty well,” Fields said. “But no matter how beaten up we all could’ve gotten, there was one more game left, so we were gonna leave it all out on the line regardless.”
It bears noting that on the Alabama side, quarterback Mac Jones played the game with an ankle issue, Heisman-winning wide receiver DeVonta Smith was out for most of the second half with a broken finger and starting center Landon Dickerson missed the game with a torn ACL.
Neither Fields nor his two aforementioned Buckeye teammates will get a chance to have that game back though, as all three may very well have heard their names called by the end of Day Two of the NFL Draft on Friday.