Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has a plan in place for rookie quarterback Justin Fields. And while the team continues on with mandatory minicamp this week, the head coach plans on sticking with that plan.
When the Bears signed Andy Dalton in free agency, they told him he was the starter for this team no matter what happens in the draft. Chicago was then able to land Justin Fields via a trade up and speculation rose that the team could turn to the rookie. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Nagy once again made sure it was known following Tuesday’s practice when asked by ESPN 1000’s Marc Solverman if he had promised Dalton the starting job:
“No, I would say, as we all know, promises can get pretty crazy but what we told Andy is that he’s our starter and he knows that and that’s what Justin knows, that’s what Nick knows, the rest of our coaches and we tell these guys knowing that there’s gotta be a start, right? So, that’s where we’re at. And now they go ahead and all three of them are gonna be the best quarterback they can be,” Nagy said. “There were no promises but we told him and I specifically told him, ‘You’re our starter.’ You know? That’s that. And now when you’re in Andy’s role, when you’re Justin’s role, when you’re in Nick’s role, they know their roles.”
The story came after Nagy appeared on Chris Collinsworth’s podcast Tuesday morning where he talked about his starting quarterback and if Fields could win the job and start week 1 against Los Angeles. After some confusion on tweet from Daniel Greenberg, it drew reporters to ask Nagy about the situation and Silverman even had a follow up asking the head coach to clarify the situation.
Nagy clarified by saying that Dalton is the starter.
“Whether it’s clarification that can’t win it? Yes, correct. Andy Dalton is our starter and when we go through this process,” Nagy said. “With that said, we’re excited about Andy Dalton too. And we know that if we stick to this plan that we have.”
Things got a little confusing on Tuesday but one thing remains clear: The Bears are committed to Dalton right now as their starter. But there is a lot of time between now and Week 1 including practices and three preseason games where Fields could do enough to win the job.
Buckle up Bears fans, this is going to be a wild storyline to follow.
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