Justin Fields will have chance to earn Bears’ starting QB job in training camp
It’s been impossible to temper the excitement for the start of the Chicago Bears’ 2021 season with the arrival of rookie quarterback Justin Fields, who has the chance to rewrite the decades-long quarterback narrative that has haunted this franchise.
But fans were cautioned that they might not see Fields right away, which was made apparent when both GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy named veteran Andy Dalton the starter some four months before the start of the regular season.
While the Bears don’t want to rush Fields’ development, it sounds like they’re not going to hold him back either. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Fields will be given the chance to earn the starting quarterback job if he has an impressive training camp.
Here’s what Fowler said on Get Up on Monday morning, via Bleacher Report:
“This offseason the Bears assessed their situation and said, ‘Look, we’ve been an 8-8 team, we just need an upgrade at quarterback that can get us closer to 10 wins.’ They felt Andy Dalton did that. They said, ‘Hey, we can win 10 games with this guy, he’s a slight upgrade at the position.’ But then they had the chance at Justin Fields, crazy athlete, great ability. They said, ‘OK, this is the long-term play.’
“Now, if Fields is just undeniable over the next three to four months in training camp, they’re not going to just sit him just for fun or posterity just to play the veteran. So they’re going to give him the best chance, but they’re OK sitting Fields if Dalton has a good grasp on the job and they feel like they can win with him. So, they believe they’re going to be better regardless. It just depends on whether Fields is ready Week 1.”
That mindset is a shift from what originally appeared to be the case of sitting Fields from the start to let him develop behind an experienced veteran like Dalton, ala Patrick Mahomes. But those two situations couldn’t be more different, and the only reason Mahomes didn’t get the opportunity to start in his rookie season was because of Alex Smith’s strong performance in 2017.
While it’s certainly no guarantee that we’ll see Fields come Week 1 — as Nagy will have to make the call whether their star rookie is ready from the get-go — at least Fields will have a chance to earn the starting job. And, if he’s ready, then they won’t force him to sit until they feel it’s the best opportunity for him.
Training camp just got a heck of a lot more interesting.
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