On his way home from Halas Hall on Tuesday, Justin Fields received a phone call from Andy Dalton. A difficult day for Dalton was about to become a better one for Fields.
“He just told me it was a great opportunity for me and that’d he be here for it all, for everything I needed, and he just didn’t want it to be awkward,” Fields said. “He didn’t want our relationship to change because of the situation. So I told him that was very comforting to hear from him.”
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That situation would be: Fields is now the Bears’ starting quarterback, win, lose or rookie growing pains. Dalton, even when he’s healthy, is now the backup. Nagy informed both quarterbacks of the change Tuesday and broke the news to Chicago and the rest of the NFL world Wednesday.
“Our relationship has just grown over the past few months,” Fields said of Dalton. “And it’s going to continue to grow each and every day. Nick (Foles) and Andy, they’ve both been great to me. They’ve taught me a lot and of course, I’m going to be leaning on those guys for the rest of the season, to just learn as much as I can from them.”
For Nagy, the decision to shift to Fields after continuously insisting that Dalton was the Bears’ starter if healthy was presented as the culmination of many factors and conversations had over the previous 48 hours behind the scenes at Halas Hall.
“This is Justin’s time,” Nagy said.
The goal for the rest of the season is obvious for Nagy, his coaching staff and the entire organization.
“Let him grow,” Nagy said.
Adam Jahns: Did Nagy’s plan for Fields change? Maybe. But it always felt inevitable that Fields would play this season, regardless of what Nagy said in front of the cameras. At some point, that developmental plan would need to take the field. Dalton’s knee injury likely sped up the timeline. But when Fields is completing 64-yard bombs to receiver Darnell Mooney and providing your offense with explosive plays that it lacked for two years in a victory against a divisional rival, it would seem unwise and shortsighted to remove Fields and replace him with Dalton. Fields’ resolve and toughness showed coming out of the Bears’ awful outing in Cleveland.
Kevin Fishbain: Yeah, I didn’t make much of Nagy’s, “When Andy’s healthy, he’s the (No.) 1” comments from Monday. It could have been as simple as the head coach wanting to wait until he could talk to the veteran QB in person and figured he could go back to his reliable line. Fields has proven plenty already, and now that he’s starting, it’s harder for the decision-makers to sell the idea that a return to the backup role would help his development. Each of these games is going to build Fields’ catalog of defenses and plays he likes. Each game will build his rapport with the receivers, running backs, tight ends and linemen. I could buy the “Dalton gives us the best chance to win” mantra early on, knowing about the ups and downs that come with rookie quarterbacks. But Jahns, I think we’re at the point where Fields gives this team the best chance to win.
Matt Nagy on Justin Fields’ reaction to finding out he was the Bears starter moving forward: “Just like he normally is — very stoic. The stage for him never gets too big.”
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 6, 2021
Jahns: I’ve never liked the “Dalton gives us the best chance to win” argument when it’s abundantly obvious that he has his limitations. The Bears said plenty of good things about Dalton, but the reality is that he last quarterbacked a team with a winning record in 2015. At best, Dalton was going to be a capable placeholder for a rookie quarterback, who turned out to be Fields after the Bears traded up for him in the draft. I’d also argue that Fields, regardless of his inexperience and expected growing pains, gives the Bears the same, if not slightly better, chance to win that Dalton does. This also has win-now and win-later elements to it. Building a team around a young, capable quarterback who is on his rookie contract is the goal for many teams around the league. That process starts now for the Bears.
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Fishbain: There are a lot of bigger-picture things to come from this move, as we all have expected the 2021 season to be crucial to the futures of Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace. Now they’re ready to go all in with Fields and show their bosses the requisite progress to stick around. That begins (or continues) this Sunday in Las Vegas. One thing I’ll be interested to see is if Fields (and Bill Lazor) can start better incorporating the tight ends and running backs in the passing game. Two Chargers tight ends and one running back caught Justin Herbert’s three touchdown passes in Monday night’s game. Jared Cook led the Chargers with 70 receiving yards. Fields should also have some opportunities for deep shots against a Raiders secondary that is badly banged up. It’s no longer about what Fields has to do to keep the job, it’s what he has to do to keep ascending and get the Bears victories.
Jahns: It was interesting to hear Nagy mention Lazor’s role in all of this during his introductory comments. It felt different — maybe, purposeful — than his postgame comments Sunday. Lazor has done “an amazing job at really helping to get this process going, just the whole thing in general,” he said. I couldn’t help but think that Lazor’s recent input was the expression of his desire to continue with Fields over Dalton. Having worked with Dalton in Cincinnati, Lazor knows Dalton the best on the staff. Overall, the game against the Lions shouldn’t be overrated, but it did feel like a step in the right direction on several fronts. Fields is the Bears’ starter; Lazor is Fields’ play caller, and Nagy has the opportunity to be the best Bears head coach he can potentially be from here.
QB1 (for real now) pic.twitter.com/eM6d01kT6i
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) October 6, 2021
Fishbain: Nagy also referred to the Lions game as the “most connected” he felt with all three phases. He can get a better sense of what’s going on with the defense and special teams while focusing on the other head-coaching priorities. I would imagine it’ll be the Lazor Show the rest of the way because it probably isn’t good for a rookie quarterback’s development to go full snip-snap-snip and change up his play caller. We’re not getting carried away with a victory over the Lions, but it does seem like — finally — the staff and quarterback conundrum are in a good place. Maybe Dalton would disagree with that, which is fine, but hey, the Bears have a pretty good backup (and No. 3) quarterback situation! The full focus of the offense can go through Fields, we know that Lazor is calling the plays, news conferences can be a little easier for Nagy and we can see if this franchise is equipped to develop Fields into a franchise quarterback.
(Photo: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)