Category: Latest Bears News

It doesn’t sound like we’ll see Bears rookie Justin Fields as a starter before Week 4

According to Jay Glazer, we’re not likely to see rookie Justin Fields take over as starter before Week 4, when the Bears host the Lions.

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Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields made his brief NFL debut during Sunday night’s loss to the Rams, where he saw five snaps of action throughout the course of the game.

His first play was a 9-yard completion to receiver Marquise Goodwin and his final play of the game was a 3-yard rushing touchdown that left Fields’ teammates and Bears fans alike incredibly excited.

Despite an ill-advised interception in the end zone, Andy Dalton had a decent outing, which should be enough to keep his starting job heading into Week 2. But we could soon be close to Fields’ starting debut.

According to FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer, we’re not likely to see Fields take over as starter before Week 4, which paints that game against the Lions as a prime target date for Fields’ first NFL start.

“The plan was for him not to be the starter before Week 4,” Glazer said. “That one I can tell you without a doubt. The Bears were really hoping their defense would come up big, they’d be able to play ball control football and Andy Dalton would be able to manage that team and Justin Fields could just learn. They did want to take him along a lot more slowly than throwing him in there in Game 1 or Game 2 or something along those lines.”

While Fields didn’t light the world on fire during his mere five snaps, even that was enough to show what Fields brings to this offense that Dalton doesn’t.

So did Fields do enough in his debut to change Nagy’s plan (which Glazer says is that Week 4 timeline)?

“No,” coach Matt Nagy said. “We’re where we’re at and I think he did a great job of what we were asking him to do.”

That’s about the answer we expected out of Nagy, especially given Dalton wasn’t terrible in his debut. But decent isn’t going to be enough to win games with this struggling defense, which is why Nagy will likely find himself making the switch much sooner than he anticipates.

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14 crazy stats from Bears’ Week 1 loss vs. Rams

Here are 14 crazy stats from the Bears’ brutal 34-14 loss to the Rams in Week 1.

The Chicago Bears opened the 2021 season with an embarrassing 34-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, where it wasn’t Chicago’s offense that was the biggest disappointment.

The good news is the rest of the NFC North also lost, so the Bears are somehow tied for first place in the division with the Packers, Vikings and Lions. Small victories, right?

Here are 14 crazy stats from the Bears’ loss to the Rams in Week 1.

Matt Nagy appeared in new McDonald’s ad, and there were simply too many jokes to make

Bears coach Matt Nagy appeared in a new McDonald’s ad, and the jokes literally write themselves.

To say that Matt Nagy has worn out his welcome in Chicago would be an understatement. Back-to-back 8-8 seasons, poor offensive play and keeping rookie quarterback Justin Fields on the bench has a way of alienating a fanbase.

So there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for McDonald’s to release an ad featuring Nagy recruiting new employees to the fast food chain just hours after Chicago’s 34-14 loss to the Rams on Sunday Night Football.

“I was hired to help make this great team even better…If they put in the work, they can make manager on this team.”

As you can imagine, Twitter had a field day (no pun intended) with this. The jokes really write themselves.

Bears RB David Montgomery nominated for FedEx’s Ground Player of the Week

Bears RB David Montgomery’s 108-yard rushing performance against the Rams garnered him FedEx Ground Player of the Week honors.

Bears running back David Montgomery picked up right where he left off last season during Sunday night’s Week 1 loss to the Rams, where he was easily Chicago’s best player on the field.

Montgomery led the Bears with 108 yards rushing on 16 carries (6.8 average), including a 41-yard run on the first series of the game to give Chicago an early scoring opportunity. Montgomery scored the Bears’ first of two rushing touchdowns late in the second quarter on a 3-yard run to cut the Rams’ lead to 13-7.

That performance garnered Montgomery a nomination for FedEx’s Ground Player of the Week, where he’s up against the likes of Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon and Denver’s Melvin Gordon.

Montgomery is coming off his first 1,000-yard season, where he finished with the fifth-most rushing yards in the NFL in 2020. Montgomery currently is the second-leading rusher in the league, behind Mixon, through Sunday’s slate of games in Week 1.

You can vote for Montgomery as the FedEx Ground Player of the Week here: https://www.nfl.com/voting/air-and-ground.

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Can we expect to see more of Bears rookie Justin Fields in Week 2?

Matt Nagy didn’t confirm whether we’ll see more of rookie Justin Fields in Week 2, but how could the Bears not continue to utilize him?

Rookie quarterback Justin Fields made his Bears debut on the fourth play of Sunday night’s loss to the Rams, where he completed a 9-yard pass to wide receiver Marquise Goodwin before jogging to the sideline.

Two plays later, starting quarterback Andy Dalton tossed an ill-advised interception in the end zone to halt a potential game-opening scoring drive.

While Fields didn’t see the field in any sort of starting capacity, Bears fans did get a quick glimpse at their hopeful franchise savior in five plays. Fields didn’t light the world on fire, but he did show what he brings to the table that Dalton doesn’t, which included his mobility on a three-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter that brought the Bears to within six points and explosiveness on offense.

Matt Nagy better get used to fielding questions about Fields’ usage in games until he’s inevitably named the starter. During his Monday press conference, Nagy was asked if we could see more of Fields against the Bengals on Sunday.

“I don’t know. We’ll see. I think he did a good job while he was in there,” Nagy said with a smile.

While Nagy’s answer alluded to nothing — did we really expect him to give an actual answer — it was easy to read between the lines that we should expect to see more of Fields when the Bears host the Bengals in Week 2. And hopefully it’s for more than just five snaps.

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Biggest concerns following Bears’ 34-14 loss to Rams in Week 1

From the secondary to the offensive line, here are some of the biggest concerns from the Bears’ brutal loss to the Rams in Week 1.

The Chicago Bears suffered a brutal 34-14 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, where there were plenty of issues on offense and defense.

While the offense outperformed the defense, they still only mustered 14 points, which isn’t going to be enough to win games. But it certainly doesn’t help when your defense is getting blasted by Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ high-powered offense.

Here are some concerns that arose from the Bears’ brutal loss to the Rams in Week 1:

Bears PFF grades: Best and worst on defense from Week 1 loss vs. Rams

The Bears defense was embarrassed in a 34-14 loss to the Rams. Here’s how PFF graded Chicago’s defense in Week 1.

The Chicago Bears dropped their season opener, losing 34-14 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. But it wasn’t the offense that was the biggest disappointment. That honor belonged to Chicago’s once-vaunted defense.

The Bears gave up 34 points — the highest to the Rams in the last four meetings — and allowed Matthew Stafford and LA’s high-powered attack to destroy them on national television. Missed tackles, blown coverages and big stars with less-than-impressive outings proved to be a recipe for disaster in the season opener.

While the defense was bad, there were some players who performed better than others. Here’s how the Bears defense graded, from best to worst, in their Week 1 loss from PFF:

Bears PFF grades: Best and worst on offense from Week 1 loss vs. Rams

The offense wasn’t the worst unit on the field for the Bears in their Week 1 loss to the Rams. Here’s how PFF graded Chicago’s offense.

The Chicago Bears dropped their season opener, losing 34-14 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. But Chicago’s offense wasn’t the worst thing on the field.

Despite scoring just 14 points, the Bears offense performed better than many expected against a top-ranked Rams defense from a season ago. Andy Dalton made his debut for the Bears, and rookie Justin Fields even got in on the action for a whopping five plays.

Chicago established a balanced attack with running back David Montgomery, who ran for 108 yards on 16 carries and one of their two rushing touchdowns.

While the offense wasn’t terrible, there were some players who performed better than others. Here’s how the Bears offense graded, from best to worst, in their Week 1 loss from PFF:

5 takeaways from Bears’ 34-14 prime-time loss vs. Rams

From the Bears’ atrocious secondary to Justin Fields’ debut, here are our takeaways from the Bears’ Week 1 loss to the Rams.

It wasn’t a pretty sight at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night if you were a fan of the Chicago Bears. Playing the Los Angeles Rams in prime time for the fourth straight year, the Bears were embarrassed in front of a national audience, losing 34-14 to start 0-1 on the season. The offense was lacking in explosive plays and the defense couldn’t stop any of them on the other side.

Starting quarterback Andy Dalton was efficient for the most part but failed to deliver any explosive plays whatsoever in the passing attack. The run game kept the chains moving as David Montgomery eclipsed 100 yards rushing, but the many yards yielded few points. An offense that scores just 14 points isn’t going to lead to many wins.

Defensively, it was as bad of a performance as I had seen in seven years. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford diced up the secondary, having two passes of 50 or more yards go for touchdowns. The tackling was atrocious and aside from one sack, there was absolutely nothing to celebrate from this unit.

Week 1 in the NFL always provides the biggest overreactions, so while I’m going to try to avoid major hot takes, this performance overall doesn’t inspire much confidence for the rest of the season. Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s loss to the Rams.

Here’s how QB Andy Dalton played in his Bears debut against the Rams

Andy Dalton made his Bears debut vs. Rams, where the offense didn’t exactly thrive under him. But it didn’t exactly crash and burn either.

Matt Nagy finally made due on his promise to Andy Dalton to get the start for the Chicago Bears in their Week 1 opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.

And, like many expected, the Bears offense didn’t exactly thrive under Dalton. But it didn’t exactly crash and burn either.

Things couldn’t have started worse for Dalton, who tossed an ill-advised interception in the end zone on third-and-6 from the 8-yard line on Chicago’s opening possession to halt momentum on offense.

Despite that opening-drive interception, Dalton was decent in his debut. Dalton completed 27-of-38 passes for 206 yards with one interception for a 72.9 passer rating, which isn’t too shabby going against a Rams defense that was the best in the NFL last season. Still, it wasn’t exactly an outing that inspired confidence should Dalton be the starter moving forward.

But it was clear the Bears didn’t trust Dalton to execute on offense, as evidenced by Dalton’s pass chart, which showcased a wholly conservative game plan that never really gave Chicago a chance to win.

Dalton didn’t complete a pass over 10 yards against the Rams (0 for 2, INT). His longest pass attempt was 16 yards, and only 5 of his 38 attempts were for 10 yards or more. Dalton had just one pass attempt travel more than 15 yards. By comparison, every other starting quarterback in Week 1 had at least four passes for 15-plus yards.

Chicago’s offense looked better than their defense, which was certainly a tough pill to swallow. Dalton was helped by a nice balanced attack led by running back David Montgomery, which allowed the offense to kill the clock on a couple of drives and keep the Rams’ high-powered offense off the field at times.

But there’s only so far a decent performance will get Dalton and, ultimately, this Bears offense when they’re playing ultra conservative. Especially when Justin Fields is waiting in the wings with the ability to bring some explosiveness to the offense.

While Dalton’s Week 1 performance probably isn’t enough to get him benched in favor of Fields, his leash is certainly getting shorter the more we see the limitations of this Bears offense with Dalton compared to when Fields is under center.

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