Clarification at Last on QB Status for Bears
For the sake of clarity after conflicting comments, Bears coach Matt Nagy on Tuesday made it known Andy Dalton cannot be beaten out of the starting quarterback position by Justin Fields before the beginning of the season.
Nagy also said contrary to one published report, no one has promised Dalton he is the opening-day starter
If that sounds entirely unclear, it is. Because, Nagy just said Dalton is the opening-day starter with his comment.
Asked during a post-practice press conference to clarify if it's true Fields can't win the job and start against the Rams on opening night, Nagy said: "Whether it's clarification that (he) can't win it? Yes, correct,
"Andy Dalton is our starter."
Nagy said all of this is understood by all the coaches and quarterbacks Dalton, Fields and Nick Foles, who joined the other two at the start of Tuesday's minicamp after missing a few weeks of OTAs.
Dalton enjoyed a strong day on the practice field to start practices. In full-squad scrimmage he hit wide receiver Marquise Goodwin with a deep ball at the outset and later found Javon Wims on another long pass as the emphasis seems to be on getting the ball downfield.
It's just that everyone assumed it would be Fields throwing those deep passes.
"We all get excited about Justin Fields," Nagy said. "We'd all be lying if we said something different. With that said, we're excited about Andy Dalton, too. And we know that if we stick to this plan that we have, that everything is going to be just fine."
The plan is to bring Fields along slowly like the Kansas City Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes.
"Let's face it, when you go through OTAs, when you go through training camp, when you go through preseason the only goal that we have is to put the best quarterback out there and Andy Dalton is our starter," Nagy said. "Justin is our No. 2 and Nick (Foles) is our No. 3 and we're gonna play that out and make sure that they're all competing and that's as simple as that."
It isn't so simple, however.
After saying Fields couldn't win the starting spot for the opener, Nagy said: "I'll just be very clear. That being said, does that mean these guys aren't competing? Absolutely not. They're competing. Like, they want to be the best, and they wouldn't want each other to be any different. So that's the answer to that."
If the players are competing, there has to be a winner . That's what competition is. The word competition means there is a winner and loser, no ties, no consolation prizes or participation trophies.
Practice is practice. Competition is competition.
So, Fields apparently knows he'll be a backup for at least the start of the season even if he's competing.
From the sound of where Fields is at in his on-field work, perhaps it's for the best.
Nagy said Fields still has to learn to give plays out in the huddle in a commanding fashion, which seems a rather basic request.
"What I try to do in practice is listen to the play calls," Nagy said. "Is he getting the play calls rhythmically in to the players? That's kind of what we are working on right now.
"If we were to pull any one of you (media) guys off of this (Zoom call) and get you in the huddle and tell you to call a play, you are going to call the play and probably just read the words as fast as you can but not really speak to the players. And that is what we are working on right now, it's rhythmically speaking the play to the players and slowing him down a little bit in the huddle."
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