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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