The NFL’s top passer improved his stats on Sunday – and he won’t be the quarterback in the Miami Dolphins-Chicago Bears that will be generating the chatter.

Chicago’s Justin Fields set an NFL single-game regular-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback and threw for three touchdowns. But Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins still came away a 35-32 victory at Soldier Field.

Tagovailoa entered the game leading the NFL with a passing-effiency rating of 112.7. The rating is a measurement using percentage of completions, touchdowns and interceptions and average yards gained per completion.

The former Alabama All-American posted a 135.7 rating in Sunday’s game by completing 21-of-30 passes for 302 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

“I think our first team meeting was April 4,” Miami first-year coach Mike McDaniel said, “so I think in seven months’ time, the growth has been unbelievable in how he’s playing the position, learning the whole system and then how he’s handling the ebbs and flows of natural in-game momentum. Saw it again today. He didn’t really give the defense an opportunity to take the ball away, and then he just continues to impress by being, through the course of the game, just taking it one day at a time. And the players themselves can just feel the visceral confidence and energy that he’s bringing forth to play the position and responding to it on both sides of the ball.”

Tagovailoa’s rating on Sunday was the second-highest in one game in his NFL career, behind a 138.7 posted in Miami’s 31-27 victory over the Detroit Lions one week ago.

“It can always get better. It can always be better,” Tagovailoa said of his performance. “We’ll enjoy this win tonight, and we’ll move on to the – who do we play next? – and then we’ll move on to the Browns. Sorry. I legit forgot.”

Fields completed 17-of-28 passes for 123 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 178 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries.

Fields broke the NFL single-game regular-season quarterback rushing record established by the Atlanta Falcons’ Michael Vick, who ran for 173 yards in a 30-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 1, 2002. San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick ran for 181 yards on Jan. 12, 2013, in a 45-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers, but that came in a playoff game.

Fields became the first player in NFL history with at least three TD passes and 140-or-more rushing yards in the same game.

“He impressed me a lot,” Tagovailoa said. “How much rushing yards did he have? He had like 200? The dude’s a baller, and he was making some plays in the pass game as well. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for the success that he’s finding for himself in this league, and I think people are starting to recognize him more the more he gets out and has those opportunities to play.”

The Dolphins didn’t punt until their final full possession of the game on Sunday. Four of Miami’s first five possessions finished in touchdowns, with a miss on a 29-yard field-goal attempt ending the other series. While that was going on, the Dolphins also scored a touchdown on a blocked punt, and Miami held a 35-25 lead with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

Tagovailoa had incompletions on fourth-down throws on the Dolphins’ next two possessions, but the Bears couldn’t quite catch up. Chicago had to punt and was stopped on downs at its 42-yard line after closing within three points.

“There are points in the game when we are doing what we said we wanted to do,” Tagovailoa said, “and then there’s also a fair amount of plays and times that we don’t, so it’s a continuation of us working together and coming in tomorrow and working on those things and talking about those. I think it will be good that we can hold each other accountable for some of the things that were going on that we didn’t execute.”

Tagovailoa threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill as the Dolphins took a 14-10 lead with 10:39 left in the first half, an 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle as Miami increased its lead to 28-17 with 12:47 left in the third quarter and a 10-yard touchdown pass to running back Jeff Wilson as the Dolphins went up 35-25 with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

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Tagovailoa increased his touchdown-interception ratio to 15-3 for the season as he played his third consecutive game without getting picked off.

“I would say whatever the play entails for us, that’s what I revert to,” Tagovailoa said. “If this play doesn’t entail you to force the ball here, don’t do it, which none of the plays do, so just continue to progress, progress, progress and then just know where to go with the ball on every play.”

Tagovailoa sustained a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29, and he left that game on stretcher and missed the next two contests. In the six games that Tagovailoa has started and finished in 2022, the Dolphins are 6-0. They lost all three games in which he didn’t.

Sunday’s victory coupled with the New York Jets’ 20-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills moved Miami within one-half game of the AFC East lead at the midpoint of its season. The Jets also have a 6-3 record, while Buffalo is 6-2.

The Cleveland Browns visit Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at noon CST Nov. 13 for New England’s next game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.