Chicago Bears: Everyone Giving Advice On When To Start Justin Fields

Now that the Chicago Bears look like they have a bona fide franchise quarterback Justin Fields, people around the NFL offer their advice on when to start him.

The Chicago Bears had a terrific draft. They very well may have gotten the franchise quarterback they’ve spent decades looking for. Justin Fields is the shiny new toy that everyone wanted for Christmas. Excitement returns to Chicago football.

The question now is how to use FIelds. Head coach Matt Nagy has to figure out a proper game plan. Is Fields ready to take over from Week 1? Should Fields take a redshirt season and take over in 2022? What if he’s ready at some point of the season, maybe Week 4, Week 7, or another week?

Some say that having Andy Dalton on the roster gives the coaching staff a chance to sit FIelds and have him polish his game. That is a formula that worked well for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s not to say that Fields will be like Mahomes. But he could be a better quarterback if he sits out a year and watches and learns.

On the other hand, what if he shows that he’s ready to start from Week 1? Would it hurt his development if he sits even though he’s ready?

Nagy won’t have a shortage of advice on when to hand the keys to the franchise over to Fields. Seems like the moment the Bears drafted the talented quarterback people around the league offered their opinions.

This is what former NFL wide receiver and current Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth says about Fields.

I would play Justin Fields in Chicago…Justin Fields is going to learn more, because he only got to play, what, six games or whatever it was (in 2020). I guess eight with the playoffs and everything. He’s a guy I think I would throw in there right away.

Nagy appears to want to take it slow. He was there in Kansas City in 2017 when they drafted Mahomes. He announced last week that Dalton would take the starter’s reps in OTAs.

We’ve seen this before

This is a situation that Chicago Bears fans saw before. The Bears drafted Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick in 2017. The plan was also to sit him for a year before starting him. The starter at the time, Mike Glennon, was just awful, however. Head coach John Fox had to throw Trubisky in and have him learn by fire. That plan didn’t work out for either side.

We can see why the Bears feel a little nervous about starting Fields right away. For his part, though, Fields is a different animal. He’s had the spotlight on him since high school and is comfortable with the pressure. He wants to make Nagy’s decision as difficult as possible. He doesn’t care what happened in the past, only about what he’ll do in the present.

It’ll be an interesting time once training camp and the preseason begin. The NFL spotlight will be on Fields and Nagy. The decision the coach ultimately makes will be highly scrutinized. That decision will not only go a long way in Fields’ development but also determine how much longer he stays as the Chicago Bears head coach. No pressure, right?