Chicago Bears fans have been clamoring to see Justin Fields at quarterback for some time now. That’s part of why head coach Matt Nagy’s latest comment only has them more frustrated.
Fields will start Sunday against the Cleveland Browns with starter Andy Dalton sidelined with a knee injury. On Friday, Nagy admitted the Bears are learning new things about Fields as he gets more starting reps.
Matt Nagy: "There's things we're seeing that maybe we didn't see in the first two weeks because [Justin Fields] wasn't getting more reps."
He does know he could've just given Fields more starting reps to begin with, right? #Bears
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) September 24, 2021
Nagy’s revelation was enough to make some facepalm. After all, the Bears could have seen more of this from Fields had they given him more of a chance early on. Some took it as a subtle admission from Nagy that the Bears had screwed up not making Fields the starter in the first place.
Don’t need to watch but loosely translated Matt Nagy says “Justin Fields is better than Andy Dalton, not sure how we missed it with everyone telling us that daily, but hand up, that’s on us.” pic.twitter.com/BwMZ2giBUF
— Bootleg Fantasy Football (@BootlegFantasy) September 24, 2021
Most were just frustrated, considering Bears fans have been clamoring for Fields for weeks with the firm belief that he was a better option than Dalton.
Matt Nagy, sooooo close to actually getting it.
— Dan Bernstein (@dan_bernstein) September 24, 2021
That’s what we were telling you about giving him more reps… #Bears FFS! pic.twitter.com/kGTnYdDqs7
— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) September 24, 2021
In the end, it seems obvious what’s gone on here. The Bears signed Dalton before it became apparent they’d have the chance to draft Fields. Once they did so, they stood by Dalton to do right by him, even though the questions got more awkward as Dalton struggled and Fields excelled. Those questions will linger, though if Fields shows himself worthy of keeping the job, the Bears will probably find a way to leave him as starter.
