On April 28, NFL Prospect Justin Fields fulfilled a dream of hearing his name called and shaking NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand. It took longer than expected for him as he was projected to be one of the first players off the board, but had to wait for the Bears to select him at number 20.
Head Coach Matt Naggy said that Andy Dalton will be the starting quarterback by week 1, Which is an asinine thing to do if you ask me. Justin Fields was a top quarterback in the draft that fell to you and his abilities should be tested straight out the gate. I even talked about this quarterback battle between Justin Fields and Andy Dalton on my podcast JWALSports Episode 23: “NFL Training Camp”
Before the NFL draft, the Bears quarterback situation was abysmal. They signed Andy Dalton and Nick Foles who are good quarterbacks but don’t have the skill set to lead a team to a super bowl.
Now, before you, all come at me on social media saying Nick Foles lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl in 2017. Remember Carson Wentz was the starting quarterback that season, and many believe he was on pace to win league MVP. Unfortunately, he suffered from a season-ending injury that lead Nick Foles to be the starting quarterback.
I’m not going to discredit him by arguing that teams only got two to four games of film against him playing the league’s worst defenses and games with one touchdown. Nick Foles came in and did what a veteran backup quarterback is supposed to do, which is pick up from where the starting quarterback left off.
What was Foles going to do after that session though? Was he going to at least lead a team to the playoffs as the starting quarterback? No, he was never given the opportunity as the following season he was beaten again by Carson Wentz for the starting position. In 2019 he couldn’t beat the rookie sixth-round draft pick Gardner Minshew for QB1 for Jaguars, then followed that up in 2020 with the Bears. He made nine appearances with a touchdowns to interceptions ratio that was almost one to one.
Andy Dalton played for the Dallas Cowboys last season where he was 4-5 as a starter with wins over the Vikings, Bangles, 49ers, and the Eagles. Dalton threw for a total of 2,169 Passing yards, had a 64.9% completion percentage, threw 14 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, and had a QBR of 53%…. Aside from the defense playing just as bad as Dalton, he had the pieces to win more than four games.
As a team, the Bears were 8-8, with one win against a .500+ team which was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I see no reason why Justin Fields should not be the starter. It has been proven time and time again the best way to evaluate a quarterback is to start them on week 1 and let them go through the ups and downs of being an NFL quarterback. It’s not like the Bears have real championship aspirations, if you play Fields and he preforms to expectations, great. If Fields is not the player you think he is, then you put one of your veteran quarterbacks in and try again next year in the draft or free agency. If you play Fields early, you at least know what you have rather than waiting late in the season and not being able to get a full assessment of his abilities.
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