The Bears quarterback situation has been a point of contention between Matt Nagy and those outside Halas Hall since training camp. Sunday’s win against the Bengals didn’t do much to silence that, and things have now ramped up following rookie Justin Fields’ first extended action following Andy Dalton’s injury in the second quarter.
Dalton suffered what appears to be a bone bruise on his knee during a scramble in the second quarter. Nagy confirmed there’s no ACL tear for Dalton, but a bone bruise is something that could sideline him for a few weeks.
But on the off chance Dalton is ready to go this week, naturally the question is going to be who will be Chicago’s starting quarterback — Dalton, the veteran placeholder, or Fields, the rookie who got his first real taste of the NFL?
For the second straight day, Nagy was asked who would be the starting quarterback if Dalton is healthy. And for the second time, he refused to name a starter, this time mentioning scheme as his reasoning.
Reporter: “Is Andy [Dalton] still your starter if healthy?"
Matt Nagy: “That’s something that I’m not going to get into with scheme.”
Reporter: “That’s not scheme.”
Nagy: “Yes it is."
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) September 20, 2021
It wasn’t really a surprise for Nagy to keep his starter under wraps, even as things with Dalton continue to develop. After all, why tip off the Cleveland Browns ahead of Sunday’s game?
But things got a lot weirder just moments after when a Bears PR person came into the media room to deliver a message from Nagy that Andy Dalton will the be the starting quarterback, when healthy.
As you can imagine, an already-enraged Bears fanbase, who was fed up with Nagy after Week 1, and others were left wondering why Nagy couldn’t just deliver that message himself just moments before.