There is a huge and hearty chunk on Justin Fields and Matt Nagy in this week’s installment of The MMQB by Albert Breer. And I would encourage you to give it all a read when you get a chance.
In the meantime, there is one section that stands out most to me.
Breer paints a picture in which he sets up the obvious: Fields’ time is coming. Whether it comes later this month, at some point later this season, or next year, Fields will be given the keys to the castle and he’ll be on his own. Nothing Fields did in training camp or the preseason has done anything to derail anyone from thinking that will be the case. And in a football world where we’ve seen rough camps and preseason woes push a prized prospect off-course, this isn’t inconsequential. In fact, that Fields played as well as he did, and that Nagy trusts him enough to be QB2 at this point, should make the franchise and its fans feel good about the future.
As should this passage:
“And if they want more good news? Just know that when I asked Nagy if the Bears brass feels stronger about Fields, and having taken him 11th, now than in April, he didn’t skip a beat.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Nagy said, laughing. “Oh yeah.”
Essentially, it comes down to this. If Andy Dalton and the Bears are good, then the plan of Dalton being a place-holder until Fields is ready will turn out to be a good one. But if Dalton isn’t playing well, and is a detriment to the team’s success, Fields will get the call. And if that is how the cookie crumbles, then Bears fans should be excited about that possibility.
The only thing left to learn is when that time will come. But knowing that it is coming is enough to put me in better spirits ahead of the 2021 season.