Inexplicably, Nagy declared Tuesday that there won’t be a quarterback competition between Dalton and Fields. Three months away from the season opener, he is adamant about going with Dalton.
Give up any dream of seeing Justin Fields start at quarterback in the Bears’ season opener. The competition between him and veteran Andy Dalton is officially closed, with coach Matt Nagy determining three months in advance that there’s no way Fields could overtake Dalton.
He could not have been clearer: There is no quarterback competition.
“Yes, correct,” he said as all of Chicago groaned in thudding disappointment.
“We all get excited about Justin Fields,” Nagy continued. “We’d all be lying if we said something different. With that said, we’re excited about Andy Dalton, too.”
That means regardless of Fields’ immense talent and how much progress he could potentially make between now and the Week 1 game at the Rams, Nagy already knows he’s going with a 33-year-old whose career passer rating is just three-tenths of a point better than Mitch Trubisky’s.
Case closed.
Nagy’s rationale was organization’s unwavering commitment to essentially red-shirt Fields for a season as he develops. The goal is for him to take over by the start of 2022, and after watching Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes’ success in a similar plan, Nagy intends to follow it regardless of how Dalton and Fields look in training camp.
The Bears signed Dalton to a one-year, $10 million deal in March only after the Seahawks rejected their aggressive trade offer for Russell Wilson. Part of their recruitment was telling Dalton he was their starter and that they were done pursuing other NFL quarterbacks.
“They told me I was the starter, [and] that was one of the reasons why I wanted to come here,” Dalton said at the time. “That’s the assurance that I’ve gotten.”
It was obvious then that the Bears might still take a quarterback high in the draft, but there was always an understanding that Dalton was first on the depth chart. And, sure enough, Nagy called Dalton immediately after the Bears traded up to draft Fields at No. 11 overall to reassure him that he was still the starter
Nagy stopped short of saying the team guaranteed Dalton that when he signed, but there was at least a handshake agreement.
“There were no promises, but… I specifically told him, ‘You’re our starter,’” Nagy said. “That being said, does that mean that these guys aren’t competing? Absolutely not. They’re competing.”
Just not for the starting job, apparently.