Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has remained adamant that Andy Dalton is his starter. This, even after the Bears traded up to draft Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields has done nothing but impress the coaching staff as well as players with his work ethic and skill. Even with that, Nagy believes that Dalton gives the Bears the best chance to win and maybe more so, wants to give his talented rookie time to develop and adjust to the pro level.
Nagy was asked about the possibility of Fields supplanting Dalton on Chris Collenworth’s podcast recently. Let’s just say, it looks like Nagy is sticking to his guns no matter how much the first year QB has impressed.
“No, I mean, Andy is our starter. Again, I can’t predict anything. You know how it goes. There’s so many things that can happen between today and that Week 1, but Andy is our starter and Justin is our No. 2 and we’re going to stick to this plan,” Nagy said. “You always hope nothing happens to Andy as far as injuries or anything like that and that’s why I can’t say 100 percent . . . Andy is where we want him to be, he’s had a great OTAs and we’re just gonna continue to build with that.”
Justin Fields is already making noise with the Bears 👀🐻 @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/AL2mKegRHD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 10, 2021
Nagy had success with a guy you may have heard of by the name of Patrick Mahomes while the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator in Kansas City. It sounds like he’d like to take a similar path with Fields. And unless Andy Dalton were to get injured or is just plain awful, it doesn’t look like Fields will see much playing time early on in his professional career.
But … we shall see.
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